Fate Extra: Grand Glorious Games (GGG)
by SeerKing
Summary: Kishinami Hakuno awakes after the events of both Fate/Extra and Fate/Extra: CCC to find that the Moon Cell isn't quite done with her yet. War is on the horizon, and it will engulf a moon...Has absolutely nothing to do with GaoGaiGar. HakunoxNeroxTamamo. Possibly more later. Has a TVTropes Page.
1. Awakening to War Again

**Author's Note: This idea was buried in my head for the last month while I was full of the cold, and I couldn't get rid of it, so...I got it on paper...so to speak. This'll be a one-shot, for the moment. I'll come back to it if and when I have the inspiration. Enjoy.**

"Saber!" – Speech

' _Praetor!_ ' – Thoughts

 _ **"** **I command you!"**_ – Command Seal Usage/Noble Phantasm Invocation

 **Chapter 1: Awakening to War Again**

 _Unknown Location_

My eyes felt heavy and so did the rest of my body. I couldn't move. I could only lie there and breathe. Not that my mind was any better; it was muzzy, slow and sluggish.

I couldn't remember anything. Who was I? Where was I? How did I get here? Why was I like this? When had I last been awake?

A voice intruded into my state of torpor. It was male, cold, emotionless and somehow mocking. Also familiar for some reason.

"Well now, isn't this a surprise? The pseudo-Master with no memories or reason to fight other than survival actually _won_ the War." The voice sounded decidedly amused. "I am afraid that you cannot slumber anymore, Champion. You must awaken."

Awaken? I already _am_ awake. I just can't move beyond breathing.

"Hmmm….ah, the loss of your Servants at the end of the C.C.C. Incident must have affected you worse than anticipated." The voice mused. "Let's see…ah, yes. This should resolve the problem."

A wave of cool energy flowed over my body, chasing away the lethargy that locked my limbs from my control. Simultaneously, a warm feeling entered my mind, burning away the ice that froze my thoughts. After a few moments, I experimentally tried to move my hand.

It worked!

Sitting up abruptly, I opened my eyes, blinking as the dull blue light around me stung my eyes until they adjusted. My mind was free again…I knew who I was now. I was Kishinami Hakuno. I had entered the Moon Cell Holy Grail War with no wish. I had had two Servants, Saber as my main Servant, and Caster as my Sub-Servant. I had fallen for them, as they had fallen for me, and had fought through the bloody war with them supporting me.

We had faced down Twice H. Pieceman and his monstrously powerful Servant Saver at the end of the Holy Grail War in order to survive. He had wanted me to wish for the perpetuation of war. It had been exceptionally tough to face him, as Saver's true identity was Siddhārtha Gautama, the Shakyamuni Buddha, the first one to achieve enlightenment and break away from Samsara, the cycle of reincarnation. With his **Counter Hero** Personal Skill and his two Noble Phantasms **[Chakravartin: Turner of the Wheel]** and **[Amita Amitābha: Transmigration into One]** , not to mention his Master's skill at Code Casting, it had almost proved too much to defeat them, but together, Caster, Saber and I had managed to win.

Then…then had come the C.C.C. Incident. I had been cast to the Far Side of the Moon, somehow, and Saber and Caster had to save me again. We then entered the Sakura Labyrinth and fought all our enemies from the first war all over again, ending up fighting against Sesshouin Kiara and her Caster-Class Servant, Hans Christian Andersen.

Then…I couldn't remember. Nor, in fact, could I remember what happened after Saver was defeated. Just what was going on here?

"Ah, so you have truly awakened then?" the voice spoke from my left. I turned around and looked up, seeing a man with short brown hair and dull brown eyes looking down at me. He was dressed in the black clothes of a priest. More to the point, I knew this man.

"Father Kotomine?" I asked softly. My voice was quiet, soft and just about the most feminine part of me aside from my long brown hair. Anyway…Father Kotomine Kirei had been the NPC Guide during the Grail War and had been the Commissary Keeper that Masters had bought items from. I had also fought against him and his Servant Lancer towards the end of the C.C.C. Incident.

"Indeed." The NPC nodded at me. "Can you stand?"

Taking mental stock of my body, I judged that I could. Looking down though, I blinked as I saw that I was wearing a pure white dress, with a red and blue sash cinched at my waist and a red and blue wristband around my left wrist. Looking at the neckline of my dress showed that it also had red and blue lines around it, spaced out in alternate lines. I was also barefoot for some reason.

Standing up, somewhat shakily, I really looked around at my current location for the first time and my eyes widened. We were standing in the middle of the SE. RA .PH Core! NPC's weren't supposed to be here! I was going to be deleted!

"Have no fear; an exemption has been made for you, Kishinami Hakuno." Father Kotomine placated me with a slightly sadistic smirk as he easily read the panic on my face. "The Moon Cell would not bring you here in order to delete you when it could simply do so remotely."

I deadpanned at him for a moment. That…was _not_ comforting in the slightest.

"You are the Victor of the Moon Cell Holy Grail War and the Conqueror of the Sakura Labyrinth." The NPC informed me seriously. "Both times, the SE. RA .PH locked down your connection to your Servants, meaning you had to fight and push every step of the way in order to triumph. For a weak Pseudo-Magus with no memories, this was… _unexpected_ , to say the least.

"I am the NPC copy of a human girl in the real world who has Amnesia Syndrome." I informed him, somewhat indignantly. "That I have no memories is a given. What of it?"

"A dark time is coming for SE. RA .PH and the Moon Cell." Kotomine explained. "The original Holy Grail War you participated in was to find a person worthy of aiding it against this threat. That the victor was someone with no desire other than to live, no great wish, was an unexpected event for the SE. RA .PH, so you were tested again…"

"Wait…so BB? Caster and Saber's memories being locked away? Sesshouin Kiara? The entire Sakura Labyrinth? All of that was _a test_?!" I exclaimed in shock and disbelief.

"Just so." The priest said smoothly. "And now, the Moon Cell desires that you be tested a third and final time. Three times is the charm, or so people say. Observe."

With a gesture from him, a holographic globe appeared before us. It resembled the moon in shape and form, what with all the craters. What was different about it was that it was covered in different type of terrain; plains, forests, deserts, mountains, seas, islands, archipelagos, wastelands…and cities.

"This is a Reality Marble World that the SE. RA .PH created for this test." The NPC stated calmly. "A name to call it…refer to it simply as **[Luna Secundus: World of Trials]** and that will be sufficient. Unlike in the two preceding Wars you have fought in, you will not be fighting in a tournament-style combat situation; your goal is to conquer this land and make it your own. The one to conquer every territory shall be awarded…that."

Pointing at the centre of the SE. RA .PH Core, he indicated I should look. Following the direction of the man's hand, I espied…a ring. It was a simple band with a colourless gem affixed to it, but…it radiated power unlike any kind of [Formal Wear] I had worn in either of the Wars. It was stronger than a Mystic Code for certain, so….

"A Noble Phantasm?" I asked with a discrete gulp.

"A good guess, but no." Kotomine denied. " _That_ , my dear Champion, is the {Regalia}. Ownership of it grants Administrator access to the Moon Cell Automation Computer itself. The Master who wins this War will be the Ruler of the SE. RA .PH, alongside their Servant. A most worthy prize, no?"

I swallowed audibly this time. What could possibly make the SE. RA .PH offer this as a prize? What could force it to do this? "It is." I said quietly. "Although I have to wonder what could _possibly_ compel the SE. RA .PH to offer such a thing as a prize."

"Hoooh…so you are not as blind as you make yourself out to be." The NPC smirked again. "I'm afraid that is something you will only find out should you emerge victorious. Now, I must ask whether you will take part in the war. Nothing more can be said of the War until you say yes or no."

"What will happen to me if I say no? Will you delete me?" I asked with slightly narrowed eyes. I did _not_ trust this situation. It was so suspicious that I could almost _feel_ Caster and Saber collectively glaring at Father Kotomine.

"Yes." He confirmed bluntly. "Other masters would merely be sent back to their bodies, but as you were originally an NPC, you will be deleted."

Knew it.

"Fine. I accept. I, Kishinami Hakuno, declare my intent to take part in this Third Moon Cell Holy Grail War." I said irritably. I didn't normally get irritated, but this situation was not one to my blackmailed into accepting was a low blow.

Kotomine bowed to me. "The SE. RA .PH thanks you for agreeing. I will now give you the rules of the War."

"It had better be good." I crossed my arms. "Even with both Caster and Saber, I couldn't hope to conquer an entire _moon_."

"Ah, but that is the interesting part." The priest smirked yet again. "You are simply one part of the equation. You recall the name given to your unique dual Servant Summoning, correct?"

"The Unique [Twin Empresses] Class." I answered with a nod.

"Well, this is what the war roughly is. You choose a location on this globe to start in and a city is raised there." A hand was waved negligently at the map globe. "The first Servants summoned will have the title [Sovereign] added to their class, so yours would be [Twin _Sovereign_ Empresses]. They act as the keystone of the country, with you acting as something similar to a First Minister or a Representative. Of course, as the Master, you will be the one in control, but it is better to protect your Sovereign Servant, otherwise your country will fall apart."

" _Do_ tell how I'm supposed to conquer _anything_ with my Servants being practically my country made manifest?" I asked sarcastically.

"But of course." Kotomine bowed. "You get to summon other Servants. Each Master in this war gets to summon a single Servant from each of the standard Classes in addition to their Sovereign Servant to act as generals, advisors and warriors. Additionally, you can create armies of programs…such as this."

With another wave of his hand, a figure appeared beside him. It was black, with glowing white lines running across it in places. It actually resembled a more advanced version of the Effigy that all Masters were given during the trial before the first Moon Cell Holy Grail War. This one was equipped with a short sword and shield. I wished I had some of my [Formal Wear] on me so I could look at its stats. Not for the first time, I cursed my status as a mere Pseudo-Magus.

"This is the…I suppose you could call it a template form of the Attack Programs." Kotomine explained. "Its Parameters are all at E- and it possesses no Noble Phantasms, Class Skills or Personal Skills. Even you would be able to defeat it in one-on-one combat if you had a weapon. The greatest utility of this Program is that it is easy to manufacture and takes very little time to create."

My head was spinning with all of this information. I didn't know what to focus on. This was beyond anything I had done before.

"Now, please select where you wish your starting point to be." Kotomine nodded at the globe. That woke me up.

"I have no clue." I protested instantly. "For all I know, the ability to make soldiers is dependent on a daily income of data that the city's location affects!"

A surprised eyebrow rose up on the man's head. "You are entirely correct. The location of a city and its area of influence affect the number of Data Points, or DP, that its owner has access to each day. The richer and more defensible the area, the more DP you gather each day."

"Is there any way to tell that on this globe?" I asked.

The priest poked and prodded it for a moment and then nodded. "Done."

Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, I advanced to the globe. A little flag appeared hovering next to the globe, bearing a red rose and a cherry blossom next to each other. Saber and Caster's symbols, I presumed.

"Plant that small flag on the location you choose and a city will rise there." Kotomine informed me. Nodding, I turned back to the globe. There were six flags already flying on it; so presumably, other masters had been summoned before me. Speaking of which…

"How many Masters are in this 'game' that I'm in?" I asked him.

"You are the last to be summoned." The NPC Priest answered.

Well. That was certainly different from the other two wars I'd been in. The First had had 128 participants, although I had only fought seven of them in the War itself, as I didn't count Twice H. Pieceman and Saver as a part of the War. Sakura Labyrinth had me and my Servants fighting at least twelve times against other Servants, including BB and her Alter Ego-Class High Servants.

Looking at the globe, I frowned as I noticed that all of the flags were blank. When questioned, Kotomine informed me that until I or my forces encountered them, I would not know who the other masters were. The same applied to them about other masters, including me.

I also noticed that four of the other masters were clustered on the same 'continent', albeit spaced far enough away from each other to not encounter each other for quite some time. That seemed like a bad idea to me. The only two flags away from that continent were on opposite sides of another large continent a third of the way around the moon. These two were either enemies or allies and I didn't know which of those was a worse outcome of the two.

I needed to be away from the melee of the four and the possible ganging up of the other two, so…ah, there was an archipelago leading up to a small continent that was roughly equally distant from both larger continents. This left me with a question, however.

"I take it you can make Attack Programs look like ships?" I queried.

"Naturally." Kotomine said in an 'obviously!' tone of voice.

OK, that meant that I had to set up as a coastal city. All of the other Masters had cities in the middle of deserts, up on mountains and in the middle of great plains. If I could build up a decisive edge in naval warfare, I could offset a bit of the size advantage any of the other Masters. Good thing I had talked with Saber about the times she had talked with her generals when she had been Empress of Rome.

Scanning the coast of the small continent, I saw that each possible location for a city had several Parameters; Data Output, Defensibility, Blessing and Special Characteristics. All of them were, similar to a Servant's parameters, ranked between E and EX. Not all locations had Special Characteristics, but those that did generally had higher Parameters than the rest, so I focussed on those.

Finally I found the right place. It was an area of the coast that had an exceptionally large natural harbour and also had a small mountain range to its north with only a small pass for troops. Additionally, it had a river to the south. A highly defensible location, I would say. Let's see the stats to confirm it though…

 **Data Output: A-**

 **Defensibility: A**

 **Blessing: B+**

 **Special Characteristics: EX**

Oh yes. This was _perfect_.

I plucked the flag out of the air and planted it firmly in the centre of the circle that I presumed that the city would encompass. It started to glow a golden yellow for a moment before fading.

"An excellent choice." The NPC hovering nearby said faux-unctuously. "Now, allow me to conduct you to your throne room."

Another wave of his hand opened up a black rectangle in space that looked suitably ominous. It was pure black and seemed to draw light into itself. But that lasted only a moment before resolving into a room made of stone. I let Kotomine lead the way through before padding after him. I also made a note to get some footwear, as stone that had only just materialised was apparently somewhat cold.

The room I entered was circular and was about the same length and breadth of the Archery Range at the Tsukumihara Academy Reality marble that the First Moon Cell War had taken place in, but it was about four times as high. In the centre was a single plain white throne, just big enough for someone my size, resting atop a dais. There were four doors at the northern, southern, eastern and western points of the room, showing that the room was atop a building of some sort.

"This is your throne room, the centre of your power as a Master." The NPC priest informed me. "Once you take your seat on the throne proper, your Sovereign Servants will be automatically summoned before you and you can then commence the summoning of the secondary Servants."

I eyed the seat in question. It was, as I mentioned previously, perfectly suited to someone of my size and seemed to be carved from a single piece of marble. It had a tall back and a pair of armrests on it as well. The only thing that could be called ornamentation on it was the little crown carved in the headrest just above where her head would be once she sat down. Carved on either side of the crown was a pair of roses and cherry blossoms.

"Well…here goes nothing." I muttered and strode over to the throne, wincing at the temperature of the cool marble under my bare feet. _Why_ was I barefoot again?

Turning around and tucking my dress properly, I took a seat on my throne for the first time.

Instantly, white light gushed out from the slight dais that the throne sat on, rushing out of the doors and out of my sight. At the same time, a pair of red magic circles formed in front of the dais itself and positively blazed with light for a moment before the one on my right unleashed a cloud of red rose petals and the one on my left unleashed a cloud of pink cherry blossom petals. In the midst of the blizzard of flowers, two familiar forms appeared.

One was a medium-height blond-haired woman wearing a red dress. Her bust was prominent and the front portion of her dress' skirt revealed her panties to all who looked. Clasped in one hand was a large red and black greatsword that greatly resembled a flickering flame.

The other figure was of similar height and was clad in a blue kimono tied with a long black obi, with the sleeves cut off at the shoulders down to the elbows to reveal slender arms. The chest portion was also missing a bit from a traditional kimono, revealing quite a bit of décolletage. The most drawing features of this person though was the pair of pointed ears poking out of her pink hair, as well as the long and bushy tail emerging from above her derrière.

These were the two Servants who had stood by me through thick and thin, against Servants, mad scientists, insane Goddess fangirls and everything else that the Moon Cell Holy Grail War and Sakura Labyrinth could throw at us. These were the women that had captured my heart.

Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, the Fifth Emperor of Ancient Rome, and the Heroic Spirit of the Sword, Saber.

Tamamo-no-Mae, _Bunrei_ of Amaterasu-ōmikami, and the Heroic Spirit of Spells and Sorcery, Caster.

My Servants.

Two pairs of eyes, one yellow agate and the other emerald green, blinked in confusion before they locked onto me and widened in disbelief.

"Praetor?!"

"Wife?!"

"Saber…Caster…!" I choked out, uncaring that I was crying in front of Father Kotomine. "I missed you both…so much…!"

I hurled myself out of my seat and tackled them into a hug, one arm around each, burying my head onto their shoulders. Thank _god_ , they still had their memories. They hadn't forgotten about me. I would interrogate Kotomine as to the hows and whys of this later, but for now, it was good enough to hold them again.

Exchanging bewildered looks with each other, Saber and Caster carefully embraced me as well. Saber was extra gentle, stroking my hair soothingly as I cried, while Caster cooed softly in my ear, reassuring me that they were here and that everything was going to be fine.

After a few minutes of this, I drew back, embarrassed from my lack of control. "S-Sorry…"

"Nay, Praetor. Do not be ashamed." Saber kept one hand on me reassuringly. "It seems we have much to discuss…such as where we are and how it is we are still here despite the fact the SE. RA .PH should have deleted us both."

"Mou, Saber." Caster pouted. "Our Master is clearly in no shape for such heavy talk! We should do something fun to get her spirits up. We're alive and with our Master; what else needs to be said?"

"A lot, unfortunately Tamamo." I answered as I wiped my eyes dry. "We have another Holy Grail War to win, and the stakes are higher than ever."

It took me a short time to run through the basics for them: why they were there, what the new Holy Grail War was about and exactly why I had accepted, as well as a little on the location of the other Masters in comparison to us.

It was the third point that made Caster glare at Kotomine and growl at him like a fox. "You _dared_ to threaten Tamamo's _wife_?!"

Saber wasn't far behind her fellow Servant, her hand tightening on Aestus Estus. "Indeed, priest. You overstep yourself, _daring_ to entrap the one who holds the heart of Nero."

"My apologies." Kotomine bowed deeply. "I am simply an agent of the will of the SE. RA .PH. The rules are ironclad and I could make no deviations in what I could offer to your Master, much as I would have liked to."

That statement could be taken in _so_ many ways, not all of them pleasant. I decided to ignore it in order to calm down my Servants. "Caster, Saber, it's fine. Even if he hadn't delivered his ultimatum, I probably would have joined the War in order to have the chance to see you both again."

That made both of my proud, noble Servants blush very prettily, especially Saber. She was very weak to sincere compliments and loving words, probably due to the lack of them as she was growing up under Agrippina. If I _ever_ had the chance to punish that bitch of a mother of hers…

"Ahem!" Saber coughed, her face a lovely shade of pink. "A-Anyway Praetor, now that we are in this war, I must compliment you for the strategic moves you have made. We are well away from the general melee and can build up our strength at leisure. Sadly, Rome was no naval power, so what little I know of such things is limited to coastal battles."

"Tamamo isn't knowledgeable of such things either." Caster admitted. "But I shall give my all to support you, darling!"

"Umu! I as well." Saber agreed.

This made me smile. Despite the fact they could fight like cats and dogs at times, the one thing that they agreed on was that I was more important than their squabbles. A not-so-subtle cough drew our attention to Kotomine, who looked bored.

"I do _hate_ to break up the happy reunion." He said insincerely, "But there is the matter of the other seven Servants you must summon."

"Ah yes. That." Caster didn't sound terribly enthused with the notion. "This Tamamo, after being so terribly loyal and cute for her Master, not to mention understanding enough to share her with Saber, must now share her Master with even _more_ Servants?"

"Caster, as strong as the two of you are, we can't conquer a moon with only the two of you." I reminded her, "Besides, you are both my Sovereign Servants. My life literally rests in your hands, while it won't with the others."

"So that rule is still in effect? Our defeat will not only destroy our Master's kingdom, but her as well?" Saber asked Kotomine sharply.

"Indeed. Even if it is by poisoning outside of battle, you will still doom her to death should you fall." The NPC confirmed. "You both recall the main weakness of the [Twin Empresses] class, I take it?"

Saber and Caster both nodded grimly. [Twin Empresses] allowed me to have both Caster and Saber as my Servants, counting as one for the purpose of SE. RA .PH's monitoring systems, but that was a double edged sword. If one of them fell, both would fall. And if both of them fell, I would fall with them.

"So these new Servants are absolutely necessary to protect our master." Caster relented, her ears drooping. "Muuuu….!"

I gently grabbed her hand and squeezed it to reassure her. Ah, there we go. Her ears stood up again.

"So what is involved in summoning these Servants?" I asked as I returned to sit on my throne, Caster and Saber flanking me, while Kotomine strode around to stand several paces away from the dais.

"It is basically a pair of [Formal Wear] that allow you to cast a single Code Cast apiece." The NPC explained concisely. "You cast them like normal, but with a chant to go along with them. They can be altered by the Master to either purposefully call a specific Heroic Spirit in the case of the first, or to exclude any number of Heroic Spirits in the case of the second. Each has limited usages. The first may only be cast three times, while the second may only be cast four times."

"Umu. A good explanation." Saber admitted begrudgingly. "I can think of several Casters I would wish to exclude. Agrippina for one."

She steadfastly refused to dignify the woman who had poisoned her with the honour of the term 'mother', as was only right.

"That meanie Abe no Seimei too." Caster agreed. "He'd take one look at Tamamo and try to seal her away under a new Sesshō-seki."

"Consider it done." I assured them. I was going to exclude Hans Christian Anderson and Nursery Rhyme from that particular class myself. Lu Bu would be excluded from the Berserker Class, hell, _all_ classes. No _way_ did I want that nut job around me. Vlad the Impaler would get the boot from Lancer and Berserker, ditto for Elizabeth Báthory. Those two were nuts as well.

Why did I run into so many insane Servants in my time as a Master?

Kotomine pulled a pair of half-moon spectacles from inside his robes, along with a monocle. "The monocle is for Servant Selection, while the eyeglasses are for Servant Exclusion." he told me. "Bear in mind you can only use them one at a time, but, if you wish, the Servant Exclusion Code Cast can summon all four of them at once."

"Priest. What if a Servant refuses to bend knee, metaphorically speaking, to my Praetor?" Saber demanded.

"If a Servant is that incompatible, then it shall be dismissed and another one summoned automatically." The NPC answered. "That shouldn't happen, however. Without Catalysts being used, the Servants summoned will be the most compatible ones for your Master within the class…well, other than Saber and Caster, as the most compatible Servants within those classes are standing before me."

"Great, he just jinxed it." I grumbled. I just _knew_ that one of them was going to go nuts or something now.

"So, which do we need to summon specific Servants for?" Saber asked, holding up the monocle in one delicate hand.

"Rider." I said immediately. "We need a Heroic Spirit to command our naval forces. I know at least one that fulfils that qualification."

"Sir Francis Drake." Caster nodded but then wrinkled her nose. "But will that loud, boisterous, greedy and unpleasant woman even work with us? We did defeat her before."

"Who else?" I riposted.

"Christopher Columbus." Saber suggested. "Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Blackbeard too."

"All of these people are Chaotic Evil in alignment." I groaned. Well, technically Mary Read was Chaotic Neutral, but still.

"Riders who use ships aren't very common." Saber shrugged, "We must work with what we have, Praetor."

"Then we should go with Drake, because we know how she ticks." I pointed out. "Money, booze and treasure. Give her enough of those and she'll follow orders, plus it'll power her up thanks to her **Profligate Pillaging** skill."

"It should be noted that Caster has poor compatibility with Rider." Kotomine noted. "Additionally, that skill will not be allocated to Drake should you summon her."

I scowled at the NPC. How vexing. That would have been one hell of a cheat. I took his point about Tamamo and Drake though. Drake was a hedonist who lived for the moment and cared not for tomorrow. Tamamo was a Divine Spirit, albeit degraded into a Servant, who thus represented eternity. It was only natural that they'd clash.

"Caster, can you try to not antagonise her?" I asked my 'wife' pleadingly. "I don't know what the Noble Phantasms of the others are-"

" **[Queen Anne's Revenge: Revenge of the Queen Anne]** for Blackbeard, **[Santa Maria - Drop Anchor: Exploration of the New World]** for Columbus and **[Caribbean Free Bird: Wings Abreast As If Trees With Entwined Branches]** for Anne and Mary." Kotomine supplied. "Those are the main ones anyway."

"So…you're telling us that for free?" I asked suspiciously after a moment of surprise.

"I am at your disposal when it comes to information on the Servants you wish to summon." The man replied. "I cannot give you information on Servants that have already been summoned, however."

"Very well then." Saber nodded. "What are the Rank and type of those Noble Phantasms?"

"Blackbeard's is C++ and Anti-Army, while Columbus' is A-Rank Anti-Army and Anne and Mary's is C++ and Anti-Unit." He answered.

"Muuu…Drake's is A+ and Anti-Army." Caster pouted. "Darn."

"Be good. For me?" I asked gently.

"No fair, Master." Her pout deepened. "Ohhhh…! OK! I'll ignore her!"

She flailed in place, looking like a child being told she has to go to the dentists. It was actually very cute.

With that said, I equipped the [Formal Wear] that had Servant Selection and started to write the Code Cast. Unlike all of the other Code Casts I had used up until this point, this one actually required me to say a chant along with it, just as Father Kotomine said. Odd, but there were stranger things.

 **Servant Class: Rider**

 **Servant True Name: Sir Francis Drake**

 **Do you wish to summon this Heroic Spirit?**

Finishing the Cast, I felt words come to me and I extended my hand out as they spilled from my lips.

 **"** _ **Fill, Fill, Fill, Fill, Fill!**_

 _ **Be repeated five times, yet destroy each once filled!**_

 _ **Let silver and steel be the essence.**_

 _ **Let Photons and the Archduke of Contracts be the foundation.**_

 _ **Let the banner I fly be emblazoned with the red rose and cherry blossom.**_

 _ **Raise a wall to block the wind.**_

 _ **Close the four cardinal gates.**_

 _ **Let the three-forked road from the Crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate!"**_

As I chanted, a red circle of summoning the same as the ones that had summoned forth Caster and Saber came into being. With every line I spoke, more details appeared in the circle, more characters in Japanese and Sanskrit appeared around the inner circumference.

 **"** _ **I declare here and now.**_

 ** _My will and the_ _SE. RA_ _.PH shall create thy body,_**

 _ **And my fate, I leave with thy sword.**_

 _ **Abide by the beckoning of the Moon Cell.**_

 _ **If thou dost accede to its will and reason, then answer my call!**_

 _ **I do swear this oath.**_

 _ **I shall attain all the virtues of Heaven!**_

 _ **I shall rend asunder all the dominions of Hell!**_

 _ **From the Seventh Heaven,**_

 _ **Attended to by three great words of power,**_

 _ **Come forth from the ring of restraint,**_

 _ **Protector of the Guardian Scales!"**_

With a great flash of light, the circle exploded. When the light cleared, a familiar woman stood there, an arrogant smirk on her face. She wore white trousers (breeches, I suppose you'd have called them back in her day), black thigh-high boots and a crimson red captain's jacket that was only buttoned up to her solar plexus, showing off her large bust. Her long pink hair fluttered in the wake of the summoning and a large scar diagonally bisected her face from the top right of her forehead to the bottom left of her jaw.

"I am Servant Rider." She declared, her aqua eyes meeting mine confidently. "I ask, are you my Master?"

"I am, Rider." I nodded. "Do…you remember me?"

"Aye, the little mouse with two Servants." Francis Drake smirked. "I see you proved you were worthy of beating me twice, girl. You've grown strong. So, what shenanigans are you up to now, entering a third Holy Grail War?"

"I have my reasons, Rider." I informed her. "But the stage this war takes place on is grander than the previous two. The goal is to conquer this moon, and I need a Servant skilled in naval warfare. Who better than _El Draque_ to lead that fleet?"

"Heeeeh…aren't you the interesting one." Rider nodded. "Well, it'll be good working with you, Master. Better than being beaten by you for a third time."

"Then our contract is complete." I said before I winced and hissed in pain as three Command Seals burned themselves onto my left hand. Yep, there they were; three black tattoos that granted me the ability to give three absolute orders to my Servants. So long as the Servant I ordered with the Command Seals followed the order, they would be granted power beyond what they could normally manage. I could even order them to break into an area locked down by the SE. RA .PH, such as the Colosseum.

"OK, that hurt." I commented, waving my hand absently before a thought occurred to me. "Father Kotomine, are these Command Seals the only ones I'll have?"

"No, you shall receive three for every Servant that you summon." He answered.

My eyes bugged out. " _Twenty-one_ Command Seals?!"

"Perhaps even more." The NPC said with a mysterious smile. "I'll give you the full details once you summon all of your Servants."

Seeing that I would receive no answers from him about this until I summoned all of my Servants, I exchanged exasperated looks with my three Servants and we got to discussing who I should summon next, after giving Rider a brief explanation of the way the moon was set up and where the other Masters were.

"We should see about summoning another Saber, Praetor." Saber opined. "Having two of my class here would be a boon."

"I say Archer." Rider put in. "Someone good at reducing the enemy forces. We're going to be at a numerical disadvantage on land and sea. I can make up for the difference at sea with **[Golden Hind]** and my best Noble Phantasm, **[Hunt of the Golden Hind: Golden Stag and the Eventide Tempest]** , but I can't be everywhere. Archers are tricky and can be devastating if used right."

I looked up at the sky in pleading thought. "Father Kotomine, can you tell me what the Noble Phantasm of Robin Hood is?"

"There are many with such a name, but the one I suspect you are asking about...that would be **[Yew Bow: The Holy Bow of Supplication]** and **[No Face May King: Faceless King]**." Kotomine answered. "Although I'm certain you are aware of that."

"I was just confirming that he was still available." I sighed.

"Praetor, you cannot be thinking of summoning _him_!" Saber objects heatedly. "He poisoned you! He almost killed you dishonourably!"

"That's what Robin Hood is, Saber." I sighed. "A combat pragmatist. And if I'm remembering his Personal Skills correctly, he has an A-Rank in **Subversive Activities**. We _need_ that on our side, Saber."

"Master…!" Tamamo whined. She didn't like Archer that much either because her he had hunted her Master (me) like an animal and that had brought up bad memories for her.

"Last time, I promise." I said, earning pouts from both Saber and Caster. I started entering data again.

 **Servant Class: Archer**

 **Servant True Name: Robin Hood**

 **Do you wish to summon this Heroic Spirit?**

Satisfied, I started to chant again. The process went smoothly and within no time, Archer stood at the edge of the dais. His messy orange hair was as dishevelled as I remember it being. His Lincoln green cloak, the manifestation of his **[Faceless King]** Noble Phantasm, fluttered in the breeze and the crossbow mounted on his right arm was held pointed down at the floor.

"I am Servant Archer. I ask you, are you my Master?" the Green Man said dully. "Ah, you again. Seriously, this makes three times."

"Yes I am and yes, it has been." I agreed. "This time you're on my side though."

"Welcome to the club, kid." Rider smirked.

"Lovely." Archer muttered, eying Rider, Saber and Caster. "So what's this shindig about anyway? Last I checked, you were only supposed to have one Servant per Master…or two in your case."

"Actually, how _am_ I maintaining Saber, Caster, Rider and Archer?" I asked Kotomine. "I don't feel any draw on my mana and I don't think the SE. RA .PH is maintaining them either."

"The city is maintaining them." Kotomine answered. "As long as you have at least one city, they will cover the costs of your Servants' mana. The more cities you have, the easier it is to maintain your servants and build an army."

Well that was useful to know. I had to presume that once all seven Servants were summoned, my city would have basically no mana left over. Just perfect.

I moved on to give Archer the basic download about the world we were in and what I hoped to accomplish in it and he agreed, somewhat dubiously, to fight alongside me. I promptly felt the pain of three more Command Seals burning themselves onto my arm, this one taking the form of three arrow-like stripes around my wrist.

"Okay, so…which Class do we use the last charge of the specific summonings [Formal Wear] for?" I asked as I rubbed the magic seals around my wrist.

"Well, Saber isn't going to be a problem, as long as you don't summon as stuck up git like one of the Round Table." Rider opined.

Archer nodded. "Yeah, their fixation on honour and that kinda stuff cramps my style."

"Tamamo thinks Caster just needs to have a few Heroic Spirits removed from selection to be useful." The fox-like beastwoman said as she flicked her ears.

"What about Berserker?" I asked. "I'm removing Lu Bu from consideration on that one. Any others?"

"Yeah, Herakles." Rider said with a moue of distaste. "A Berserker version of him would be too hard for you to control."

Gulping, I nodded. Yeah, the Bastard of Zeus would be hard enough to control in the Archer Class, but he would be nigh unstoppable as a Berserker. **Divinity** was a pain in the ass as a skill…

"Ngg!?" I felt a burst of pain in my head as a flash of a man in golden armour came and went in my mind in an instant.

"Praetor?!"

"Master?!"

Caster and Saber yelped as I cradled my head. Ow…

"I…I'm OK." I managed to get out. "Just…just a headache."

"Considering you've summoned two powerful Heroic Spirits, it isn't exactly a surprise." Archer drawled. "Maybe you should give it a rest for a while. Even if you're just acting as an anchor for the ritual, the mental strain of performing them still gets to you."

Seeing the surprised look that Caster sent in his direction, Archer rolled his eyes. "I was a Druid's son in life." He reminded us. "And my former Master, Dan Blackmore, talked about summoning me. Said it was a strain just for a single Servant, so you must have been greatly strained with two at once, Master."

I blinked. "The only strain on me when I summoned Saber and Caster was that I was in the middle of being beaten down by one of those Effigy Pseudo-Servants."

Rider and Archer both scoffed at the mention of those things. I can understand why. Their stats were, very roughly, E to D- ranked, they had no Skills, Classes or Noble Phantasms and they were somewhat predictable in the manner in which they attacked. Any competent magus could hold their own against one, at least for a while.

I, being a Pseudo-Magus, hadn't _had_ any Magecraft at that point. I had fought with my own Effigy as best as I could, but I had been overpowered and been seconds away from death when I had somehow miraculously summoned Saber and Caster.

"Anyway, the class that might be a problem is Assassin." I said with a shake of my head. "From what I remember hearing during the Moon Cell Holy Grail War, it's common to summon Hassan-i-Sabbah, but a lot of the other Heroic Spirits who can fall under the Assassin class are problematic and downright troublesome, like Cleopatra and Doctor Jekyll."

"Praetor, how did you…?" Saber looked surprised.

"I did a lot of reading in the Library back at Tsukumihara." I shrugged. "Matching possible legendary figures to classes was something I did as a sort of hobby. I would run them by Father Kotomine and he told me if they were right or wrong as long as they weren't already Servants in the war. Don't suppose this place has a library?"

"You can buy it as an upgrade to your palace." Kotomine informed me.

"Good to know. Now, is there anyone that you all would like to nominate as Assassin, or should we just roll the dice on that one?"

"Muu…Assassins are fairly easy to deal with if you force them into a direct confrontation." Caster said with her arms crossed. "I would personally try to select a Berserker that's easy to handle, preferably one with a low rank in **Mad Enhancement**."

"Do you have someone in mind?" Archer asked sceptically.

"One of my tails." Caster smirked and went on to explain that she had cut off eight of her nine tails after a millennium of training and attaining divinity, and that each of those tails was in turn a _Burin_ of her, becoming Heroic Spirits that exemplified specific aspects of her personality. All had a part of Caster's divinity within them and, while the part of her that was a Berserker was embarrassing for her, she knew that her Master could control her.

"I feel a very high amount of foreboding here, Praetor." Saber opined. Clearly, she did not look forward to having two versions of Tamamo-no-Mae in the palace.

"And just _what_ do you mean by that, Miss Saber?!"

And just like that, another one of their famous quarrels started up. I programmed the monocle as they did so and started the chant. This one was somewhat different, as it had an extra verse in between the penultimate and final verses.

 **"** _ **Yet, thou serve with thine eyes clouded in bestial chaos!**_

 _ **Thou, bound in the cage of madness, bound by chains on a leash!**_

 _ **I am she who commands those chains and grasps that leash!"**_

Once I finished the incantation, the circle blazed with light, revealing a girl who superficially looked similar to Caster. She was dressed in a kimono of a similar cut to Caster, albeit red rather than blue, and she had the pink hair and the fox-like ears and tail, but that was where the resemblances ended. Rather than the elegant _geta_ that Caster strutted around in, Berserker instead either had actual oversized _fox paws_ on the end of her legs or she was wearing oversized shoes that _resembled_ fox paws. Her hands were also replaced with fox paws, although these were clearly the genuine article.

Also, around her neck was a red collar with a bell. What the heck?

"Nyaaaaa…" the figure of Berserker said as she looked around before sighting Caster. "Nya! YOU! Betrayer!"

"Caster?" I asked with a sigh. " _Please_ tell me you didn't leave something out about Berserker here?"

"Tamamo… _may_ have kinda-sorta…sealed them away?" Caster half stated, half asked bashfully.

I felt another headache coming on.

Standing up from my throne, I advanced on Berserker, who turned her head to face me like a turret locking onto a target. I raised one hand towards her.

" **Mad Enhancement** , deactivate!" I ordered, enforcing my will on the skill that derived my new Servant of her reason. It took about a quarter of my mana to do that, which left me gasping for a moment, but it was worth it. The blind rage and hostility that raged in Berserker's agate eyes dwindled and was replaced with reason and awareness.

"Ara? Is this Berserker not under **Mad Enhancement** anymore?" she mused before looking at me. "My manners have escaped me thus far, my apologies. I am Servant Berserker. Are you my Master?"

"I am, Berserker." I nodded. "I am _also_ the Master of Caster over there, whom you seem to have some disagreement with. Might I ask what that might be?"

"You may." Berserker said frostily, directing a glare at Caster. "She arbitrarily created us and then had the absolute _gall_ to seal us away in the Imaginary Number Dimension for no reason! It took all of us working in tandem to break free!"

"Only because you eight started running amok after I created you!" Caster spat out as she stamped her foot childishly. "Gah, if there had been another way to save my beloved Master _without_ growing all of my nine tails back I would have done so! And if there was a way to remain a Servant _without_ cutting eight of my tails off, I would have done so too, but I couldn't! And then you eight go nuts, acting as you please! As if I would risk you stealing my Master…ahem, I mean _harming_ my Master, so I sealed you."

I just sighed and palmed my face. Tamamo-no-Mae was a jealous woman. This situation proved that beyond all measure, as she was jealous of what was, for all intents and purposes, multiple versions of _herself_!

Berserker was spluttering in outrage. "I…you…!"

"Enough." I sighed. "Berserker, I understand that you have an axe to grind with your creator, but this is a war I am involved in, with my existence at stake. I'll scold Caster and get her to apologise for what she did, so can you put your…ah, enmity with her to one side?"

"WHY?!" Caster wailed.

Berserker regarded me for a moment before smiling. "Very well, Master. I will do my utmost to do so, but I cannot speak for my sisters in the Tamamo Nine."

"The what now?" I asked with raised eyebrows.

"It is how we eight refer to ourselves, plus our original." The currently-not Mad Warrior explained. "I can sense the presence of the other seven on this world. Doubtless some will be Servants belonging to your enemies, Master."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, Berserker." Saber put in. "Berserker, might we know your true name if it differs from this vixen in heat?"

"What was that?!"

"My name is Tamamo Cat, Saber." Berserker stated. "Each of the eight tails represents a part of the original's personality. I represent the crystallisation of the more sincere and pure aspects of Tamamo-no-Mae, and I am known as the Wild Beast among my sisters."

"Welcome to the team, Tamamo Cat." I said with a smile, before wincing as three more Command Seals burned themselves onto my arm. Looking at them, I saw that these ones looked like three cat eyes in a triangle formation. They were situated right behind the ones that Archer had given me. Great, my left arm was going to look like a tattoo shop ad.

…where had that comparison come from?

Shrugging mentally, I returned to my throne and Berserker moved to one side.

"OK then. That just leaves Saber, Lancer, Assassin and Caster." I said aloud. "I'm going to program the exclusion tool, so speak up if there's any Heroic Spirit you don't want me to summon in any of those classes."

As it turned out, there were more than a couple. Medea, Morgana le Fay, Circe, most of our previous Caster enemies, Lu Bu, Vlad the Impaler, Hassan-i-Sabbah and several other Heroic Spirits were systematically removed from consideration. The last one I entered was Agrippina. Then I started to chant again.

Once more, a burst of light brighter than I think my eyes could normally tolerate erupted and then vanished, and I saw three figures standing in the smoke. One was a girl wearing a blue sleeveless kimono, two katana sheathed at her waist. Her pink hair was tied up with what looked like an oversized tsuba.

Standing next to her was another girl of smaller stature and dressed like a kunoichi, with a form-fitting bodysuit in burgundy and black, thigh-low burgundy shorts and a long crimson scarf flapping from around her neck. One major oddity was that her limbs looked completely artificial.

The last figure was a little girl clad in a black hooded cape of some sort. All that could be seen of her was her legs, with thigh-high skin-tight stockings and armoured shoes, her purple hair, in a long plait down her back, and one hand grasping a weapon that was taller than she was, somewhat resembling a scythe.

"I am Servant Saber-"

"I am Servant Assassin-"

"I am Servant Lancer-"

"""-I ask of you, are you my Master?""" all three asked simultaneously.

Nodding mechanically, I said, "Yes, I am. But…why hasn't Caster…the second one…appeared?"

All of the other Servants turned to regard the last summoning circle, which was still shining red, but not as bright as when a Servant was summoned. Father Kotomine walked forward to peer at it.

"I suspect that you excluding some of the Servants it could summon has something to do with it." He said at last. "Possessing Tamamo-no-Mae as a Servant should act as a catalyst to summon Abe-no-Seimei, but you deliberately excluded him from consideration. Similarly, possessing Nero Claudius as a Servant should act as a catalyst to summon Agrippina or Simon Magus, but you excluded both of them as well. It will take the SE. RA .PH a moment to generate a Servant for you."

"Why _did_ you want to exclude Simon Magus?" I asked my first Saber. He had been her teacher in magic, if memory serves.

"I-I-I-…" Saber spluttered before looking to one side. "I…didn't want someone who was in authority over me as a child interfering with my relationship with you, Praetor."

The blush on her face was adorable. Gah, I think I'm going to die from a cuteness overload!

Thankfully, I was distracted by the summoning circle brightening and unleashing a soft ruby light as Caster finally appeared. All around the room, jaws dropped, even the cynical Archer, and _especially_ mine!

Standing on the summoning circle was a girl of my height, with long brown hair, warm russet eyes and wearing the tan uniform of Tsukumihara Academy. The face looking back at me…was…was…!

"Greetings." My voice said, but it wasn't me who was speaking.

"I am Servant Caster. I ask you; are you my Master?" The Heroic Spirit Kishinami Hakuno asked while looking straight into my eyes.

 **F/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGG**

 **Next Chapter: Setting Up**

 **F/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGG**


	2. Setting Up

**Author's Note: OK, a bit of information to avoid confusion in this chapter. From here on out, Nero and Tamamo will be referred to as Sovereign Saber or S. Saber for Nero and Sovereign Caster or S. Caster for Tamamo. The new Saber and Caster will be referred to simply by their class.**

"Saber!" – Speech

' _Praetor!_ ' – Thoughts

 **"** _ **I command you!"**_ – Command Seal Usage/Noble Phantasm Invocation

 **Chapter 2: Setting Up**

The stares of the Servants were bordering on incredulous as they looked between me and the Caster that looked exactly like me. Even Father Kotomine looked perturbed, which was not something that happened in my experience.

Hell, _I_ was flabbergasted. This was almost like Nursery Rhyme all over again, but it _couldn't_ be her, as I specifically excluded her from my summoning.

"This is a surprise to me as well, Master." my doppelganger said, correctly reading the expression on my face. "After all, I'm dead."

"How is this possible?" my first Saber demanded.

"Saber…" the Caster duplicate smiled fondly at her. "I come from a divergent timeline where Twice H. Pieceman set a failsafe Code Cast to kill the Master who defeated him and Saver. The last thing I saw was you and Caster crying over my body. Apparently, the Moon Cell dubbed me worthy of the title of hero for what I did, although the only Class I qualified for was Caster. I am the Heroic Spirit Kishinami Hakuno, ready to serve."

"That would explain a lot." Kotomine had recovered his poise whilst she had talked. "Really...to think that you not only won the Holy Grail War but became the first person to be declared a Heroic Spirit while inside the Moon Cell itself. How fascinating…"

I was really disturbed by the flicker of interest that entered his dead eyes a that point, so I hurriedly spoke up. "Yes, I am your master and the contracts are complete."

I then growled in pain as _four_ sets of Command Seals burned themselves onto my arm at once. The first set was a trio of katana in three horizontal lines, followed by three vertical lines in Sanskrit. Next was three horizontal lines of square-pupiled eyes and finally there was a Command Seal in the shape of my original set from the Moon Cell Holy Grail War.

"Ow." I deadpanned. " _Why_ must the Command Seals cause pain when they are placed on a Master?"

Ignoring my muttered question, my first Saber stepped forwards. "Greetings to you all. I am Nero Claudius, the Fifth Emperor of Ancient Rome. Can I ask the three new Servants to introduce themselves?"

"Fair enough." the katana-wielding Saber ginned. "The name's Miyamoto Musashi. Nice to meet you, Master."

"...Katō Danzō." Assassin said in a monotone. "I am ready to fight and die at your command."

"Medusa." Lancer said softly. "You needn't worry about being petrified; in this form, I do not have access to my Mystic Eyes of Petrification unless I invoke my Noble Phantasm. Best regards, Master."

"Jeez. I'm the only freaking guy she summoned." Archer grumbled.

"It's nice to meet you all." I nodded at them. I was puzzled though; everyone talked about _Heroic_ Spirits being summoned, but Medusa was seen as a monster, as a villain, in mythology. Could the truth of the Gorgon Sisters have been distorted so much over time, or was the Moon Cell using any spirit of the past who accomplished legendary feats for Servants?

"If I may have your attention?" Father Kotomine said politely. We all turned to him and he continued. "The rules for this Holy Grail war are simple enough; you must conquer every city on the moon. This means every city ruled by a Master, and every city ruled by Independent Servants."

"Wait, _Independent_ Servants?" my Caster double asked in disbelief. "I thought Servants had to have a Master in order to exist for any time in the world?"

"Ordinarily that would be the case, but the Masters aren't the ones supplying magical energy to the Servants or acting as anchors in this war." the NPC answered with a superior smirk. "The cities are the focal points of power on this moon and they act as both the power source for the Servants and their anchor. So long as a Master has a city under their control, they can maintain their Servants. As such, Independent Servants are bound to a particular city and have the ability to create Attack Programs to defend it."

"So how do we conquer the cities?" Musashi asked. She was one of the two actual soldiers in the room, so I was glad she had been the one to ask that.

"You fight and defeat the Servant or Master in control of the cities." Kotomine answered. "You do not have to kill the Independent Servants; you simply have to get them to concede victory to you."

"Bearing in mind that these are Heroic Spirits we are talking about, that's easier said than done." I pointed out. I knew my Saber and Caster; they'd rather die than surrender, so I had little doubt that most other Heroic Spirits were like that as well.

"Which is why simply killing them is the usual course of action." Kotomine said lazily. "Masters are the same. You defeat them by either defeating their Servants or you convince them to hand over this."

From inside his cassock, Kotomine pulled a plain rod. It was a foot and a half long and looked to be made of steel. It was completely unmarked and looked as if it had been pulled from a scrapyard.

"That is…?" I said with a blink of surprise.

"It's called a **{Sceptre of State: Proof of a Ruler}**." the NPC answered before tossing it at me abruptly. I caught it on automatic and it changed. The rod grew to a meter in length and changed colour from steel to silver. From the top, a heart-shaped loop emerged, with a pair of red and blue jewels embedded in it. Spiralling up the haft were two separate streams of petals; I presume that one is roses and one is cherry blossoms, to represent Nero and Tamamo.

"That staff is the symbol of your rule and it, and it alone, can be used to use a powerful version of a Command Seal, known as an _Imperial_ Command Seal, on Sovereign Saber and Sovereign Caster." Kotomine told me. "Never hand it willingly to another Master; doing so relegates you to being that Master's subordinate."

"Umu, umu...I see." Sovereign Saber (as she was now apparently called) nodded. "And are there any differences to Imperial Command Seals when compared to regular Command Seals?"

"Several." the NPC answered. "One, they are only usable on Sovereign Servants. Secondly, only one can be used per day. Third, you cannot use an Imperial Command Seal on the same Servant twice in a row. Fourth, Imperial Command Seals have a twenty-four hour cooldown period. Fifth, you have three Imperial Command Seals per Sovereign Servant and you gain an additional one for every city you gain control over."

" _Damn_ , that's a lot of restrictions." Rider chuckled. "So do these fancy-dancy Command Seals do anything different from regular ones?"

"Yes. In addition to the standard usage of Command Seals, Imperial Command Seals allow the Master to order a change in the environment around the Servant, and from a considerable distance as well." Kotomine replied as he buffed his nails absently. "Say for example that Sovereign Saber was standing on the other side of this small continent, while her master was seated here on her throne. Master Kishinami here could order, using her Servant as a conduit, a forest to appear or disappear, to make a city rip itself free of the ground and float in the sky or even for the waves to part. They are also absolute orders and commands, even more so than regular Command Seals. The power granted to a Servant who follows the dictates of an order issued by an Imperial Command Seal is at least half again as powerful as a regular Command Seal."

"Wow…" Archer whistled. "That's one impressive stick."

"Weakness." Assassin said softly. "Stolen. Can't use."

I took her meaning. If a Servant stole my **{Sceptre of State: Proof of a Ruler}** , I'd be unable to use my Imperial Command Seals. This was why regular ones were magically tattooed onto the body of the master, to prevent easy theft.

"No Servant can lay a finger on the sceptres." Kotomine refuted. "Only another Master can even touch them. And, unlike regular Command Seals, they cannot be stolen and used by any other set of Seals. A master has to willingly forfeit them to another."

With how powerful the Imperial Command Seals were, I could see why they had so many restrictions and safeguards on them. Even regular Command Seals were extraordinarily powerful, so this kind of system made sense.

"I see." I said. "So then...how does the rest of this war work? You've told us that we have to conquer cities by killing or forcing Servants to be humbled. In turn, we have to either destroy the cities of the Masters to disqualify them or force the Masters into surrendering their sceptres. How do we destroy the cities? I can't imagine we'd have to raze them to the ground; it isn't like the SE. RA .PH to be that inefficient."

This earned me some surprised and appraising looks from my Servants. The ones most surprised were Sovereign Saber and Sovereign Caster. Caster didn't looks surprised in the slightest though; as expected of another version of me.

"Correct. In each city, there is a palace. In each palace, there is a keystone room. If the Keystone contained within that room is destroyed, the city will crumble away." Kotomine recounted. "As such, you will lose the DP income from that city, as well as any benefits from any Special Characteristics that the city location grants you."

"Such as?" Lancer spoke up for the first time in a while.

"Rank Up of specific characteristics for specific classes, DP Bonuses, Attack Program Templates, Mystic Codes and [Formal Wear]...in rare cases the ability to summon an Irregular Class Servant…" the NPC listed in a bored voice. "There are too many to list at the moment."

"Sweet. _Please_ tell me that our Master got us something like that for this place?" Saber asked.

"This place _does_ have a Special Characteristic, but I have no idea what it is." I admitted. Setting my staff into a holder that had suddenly appeared at the side of the throne, I swiped my hands in the air in front of me, bringing up an interface. Huh…how did I know to do that? Shrugging it off, I looked through the menus until I found the section on the Special Characteristic(s) of the city we were in.

 **(Unnamed City) EX-Rank Special Characteristic(s)**

 **1) Gain Attack Program Templates [Bireme], [Trireme], [Spearman] and [Swordsman].**

 **2) All [Rider] Class Servants gain a [+] to their Agility Parameter.**

 **3) The construction cost and maintenance cost of all [Naval] Class Attack Programs are reduced by a third.**

 **4) One-Off Bonus: Gain [Formal Wear]: [Admiral's Uniform].**

When I read this out, Rider and Sovereign Saber looked thrilled. Rider already had B-Rank Agility, so getting an extra bonus to that would be useful, while Sovereign Saber had experience with Biremes and Triremes, so she's be able to advise me on them and their usage.

I then moved to the inventory, where all my [Formal Wear] was stored, and selected the [Admiral's Uniform] to put on. It replaced my [Sovereign's Dress] and looks rather snazzy, in my own opinion. White trousers, white socks, black shoes (footwear at least!) a red and blue quartered tailed coat and even a weird bicorn hat.

Incidentally, this is what my new and old [Formal Wear] have going for them.

 **[Admiral's Uniform]**

 **Defence: D+**

 **Code Casts: - wind_storm(32)**

 **\- gain_def(32)**

 **\- loss_lck(64)**

 **\- hack**

 **[Sovereign's Dress]**

 **Defence: D-**

 **Code Casts: - hack**

 **\- gain_str**

 **\- view_status**

 **\- heal_wide(32)**

I'd have to see if I could write my own [Formal Wear] in the future…provided I could remember the kind of stuff I had back during the Moon Cell Holy Grail War and C.C.C. Incident. Also, I had a _Clothing_ [Formal Wear] slot and three _Accessory_ [Formal Wear] Slots. This could get interesting…

"Lookin' good there, Master!" Rider hooted, making me blush. Sovereign Saber and Sovereign Caster eyed her with scant favour.

Kotomine waved a hand and a holographic representation of the small continent I had chosen to place my first city on appeared. It looked like a squashed mochi with a bite out of it near the top, where I had placed my city, and it was about half the size of Australia, if that. A single flag emblazoned with a rose and cherry blossom appeared at the bay.

"This is the continent that your Master has chosen as her base." The NPC stated. "The other Masters chose the large continents and ignored this one. Rather surprisingly, your Master made the correct tactical decision. Gaining control over a continent will place her very much in the lead, while the other six squabble over the larger ones."

"The 'rather surprisingly' there was unnecessary." I mumbled.

"At the moment, the other Masters are undergoing a sort of simulation training program to get them used to this new system. This is because they are all close together, relatively speaking." Kotomine continued, ignoring me. "With your Master, however, her 'tutorial' will be her leading you all in conquering your first actual NPC city."

"Thrown in at the deep end, as usual." I groaned. I honestly can't think why I am so surprised; it had happened in both of the last wars too, so it happening a third time wasn't such a hard thing to imagine. I'd better pull myself together.

Straightening up in my seat, I looked at Kotomine straight in the eye. "Where is our target?"

Inclining his head (in respect?), the Priest NPC clicked his fingers and made three cities appear on the map. All three were within reach of my city and two were also coastal cities. Above the middle city hung a banner with a sword, above the one to its left was a banner with a skull and the one on its right bore a staff. Servant Class symbols.

"Whichever one you chose to attack is your target, Master of the Twin Sovereign Empresses." Kotomine bowed slightly. "Now, are there any other questions?"

"How many more Servants can a Master possess?" I asked instantly.

"Four additional Servants total from any of the Standard Classes." Kotomine answered. "Additionally, you may have one Servant from each of the unlocked _Irregular_ Classes."

That's the second time I've heard of these irregular Classes. I had a bad feeling about them. "Do you mean like Saver?"

"That _particular_ Class has been locked down completely for being too powerful, but yes." The NPC nodded. "The Irregular, or EXTRA, Classes accessible are Ruler, Avenger, Shielder, Gunner, Faker and Gatekeeper. To be clear, you cannot summon any more servants; you have to either recruit them or take the Spiritual Cores of defeated enemy Servants in order to use them to summon more Servants of your own. This is what a Spiritual Core looks like, just for reference."

He removed a black sphere the size of a grapefruit from inside his cassock. It seemed to draw light within itself.

"Will I summon the same Servant that the Core originally belonged to?" I asked with a frown.

"That is an option." The NPC allowed. "Alternatively, you can simply allow compatibility to guide you. Which path you take is entirely up to you. Now, I must bid you farewell. May your actions bring you what you deserve. Amen."

With that, Father Kotomine walked through the door we had originally entered through and vanished, the black entrance vanishing as soon as he passed the threshold.

"I see Father Kotomine is as…idiosyncratic as ever." Caster sighed, shaking her head. Can I just mention that seeing an identical twin of yourself is really, really weird if you've never had one before?

"If by 'idiosyncratic' you mean 'passive-aggressive, snide, snarky, disturbing and unpleasant in both demeanour and actions' then I agree with you." Lancer deadpanned. "I do not trust that man, Master."

"I don't either…not fully anyway." I answered my youngest Servant -by appearance anyway- with a sigh. "So then…this is a fine mess. Saber, Sovereign Saber?"

"Master?"

"Praetor?"

"You two are our most experienced warriors and soldiers, so I need your opinions on which to attack." I pointed at the centre city. "I'm ruling out that central city for the moment, because it would leave us sandwiched in between the other two."

"True." Saber nodded slowly. "But Master, I am merely a warrior and master swordsman, not a soldier."

"According to the legend of Miyamoto Musashi, you were a soldier at the Battle of Sekigahara." I answered with a frown. Granted, it was an unsubstantiated rumour, but…

" _Eh?_ Nononononononono." She shook her head rapidly. "I'm from a parallel world that ceased to exist because of the…what was it again? Ah, yes; Quantum Time-Locks. Don't ask me what it means, because I haven't got a clue. I'm afraid that all I am is a simple warrior, wandering vagabond and duellist, nothing more."

"Then from a 'simple warrior's' perspective, which would be easier to attack?" I asked with a nod at the map.

"Hmmm…well…" Saber frowned. "You're right about the central city. Not only would we be risking being pincered by the other two cities, if the flags represent the Classes of the Servants in charge of their defence, then we also have a high chance of running up against a Saber-Class opponent, while the other two are run by an Assassin and a Caster respectively."

"Umu. She speaks true, Praetor." Sovereign Saber nodded judiciously. "We are aiming to get your feet wet in warfare, not overwhelm you with a superior opponent. Out of the two, the easiest, I would say would be the Assassin. Casters are said to be the weakest of the Servants, unless they have the chance to fight on their own ground, in which case they are a nightmare to fight."

"I gotta disagree with that." Rider spoke up. "We should take out the Caster first because the more time she has to prepare her defences, the more of a pain in the ass it'll be to pry her loose."

"Hmmm…I agree." S. Saber nodded slowly. "I had not considered that. Well Praetor, we have your target."

"OK…um…we should scout it out." I said hesitantly. "Assassin, Archer."

"Yeah?"

"At your command, Aruji."

Archer had spoken up laconically, while Assassin knelt on the ground like a shinobi out of a period drama would.

"Archer-san, kindly speak to our Master with more respect." S. Caster frowned at him.

"Whatever."

"I want you both to go out and scout out Caster's city." I told them, ignoring S. Caster and her antics. "Keep an eye out for any Bounded Fields or traps and report back after a day of observation."

"Whaddya wanna know?" Archer asked.

"What kind of mundane defences the city has; types and number of Attack Programs, walls and anti-siege artillery mounted on them." S. Saber snapped out. "You've surly scouted enemy forces before!"

"I defended a village, not a walled city, and I never went near a walled city in my life." The Green Man countered. "Well, I'm off. See ya later."

He vanished in a flash of green light, and I felt my connection with him become numb. "He's activated **Independent Action**."

"Urgh, he irritates me mightily." My first Saber grumbled. I patted her arm comfortingly before returning my attention to Assassin. "Go on now and return safely."

"Hai." She answered and faded away into the shadows.

"So she's the Karakuri kunoichi…" Rider smirked. "Needs to be livened up a bit, I'd say."

"She was used most of her life." Tamamo Cat said stiffly. "It is of little surprise she has no sense of self after being used by her creators like such."

The look she threw at her original was eloquent.

"Lancer, I want you to patrol the walls for today." I said to the petit Servant. "We'll make a rota at some point, but until then I'll assign you to that duty as required."

"I obey, Master." Lancer inclined her head before walking out of the room quite daintily.

"Rider, you and I will be going over what naval forces we can assemble at some point, but until then, you are in charge of guarding the palace itself." I told El Draque. "Once that's done, you can go get some sleep."

"On it, _Admiral_." She answered with a teasing smirk. Rider then turned and sauntered out of the door and vanished too.

"What shall we be doing in the meantime, Master?" Tamamo Cat asked.

"We will be going over the basic functions of the city." I answered grimly. "We need to know how much Data Points we receive per day, how much gets allocated to the upkeep of my Servants and how much we have left over after that. We also need to know what kind of Attack Programs we can create, aside from the basic Soldier template and the four we got for claiming this land, as well as how many we can make and how long it takes to make them."

"Praetor…you're very…determined." S. Saber said after a moment.

"I've been thrown headlong into two wars without knowing anything about it, Sovereign Saber." I said, sighing. "Each time, the SE. RA .PH clamped down on my connection to you and Sovereign Caster, meaning we had to go through countless Alterations of the Soul in order to restore you both to your full power. Even then, it's only thanks to Rin and Rani that we got through the First Moon Cell Holy Grail War with as little incident as we managed. The same applies to the C.C.C. Incident. Well this time, it doesn't seem as if the connections to you two have been weakened, but I can tell that, aside from their Class Skills, the other seven have none, have no access to their Noble Phantasms and all their stats are E Rank. Sound familiar?"

"That damn Priest should have informed use of that!" Saber growled, one hand on her katana.

"It is likely that we can find a function here in the palace that allows me to gradually restore your functions." I reassured her.

"Umm…I don't know about the rest…but I still have all my skills and Noble Phantasms." Cast said meekly.

My eyebrows shot up in shock at that. "What? How? I can sense our connection…"

"It's thanks to one of my Personal Skills, **Powerless Shell (False)**." Caster explained. "You keep thinking of me as a 'twin' of yourself, rather than as a Servant, because then you would have to acknowledge that I'm an alternate version of you that died. As long as you keep doing that, I'll not register fully with you as a Servant. Just think: The Kishinami Hakuno I am looking at is Servant Caster."

I did so and my eyes bugged out when I felt the connection with her open fully. While not as powerful as my first Caster and Saber, she was clearly unfettered by whatever restraints had locked down the abilities of the others.

"Ohhh…Praetor, you make a powerful Heroic Spirit." Sovereign Saber breathed. "C Rank, would you say, Sovereign Caster?"

"Tamamo agrees. Far above what most Heroic Spirits of the 'modern' era achieve." The fox nodded. "It really is incredible to think that our Master, even in another world, was able to make it to the Throne of Heroes section of the Moon Cell."

Caster blushed. "It was the Moon Cell's decision, not mine. A-Anyway, I can act as a body double for Master when she needs to be elsewhere. It would take A Rank **Eye of the Mind** or **Eye of the Mind (False)** to pierce the veil put up by my Skill. Either that or me clearly acting like a Servant and doing things a Master wouldn't be able to do."

"You'd make quite the good _Yōjinbō_ in my world, Caster." Saber smirked.

"You don't have many direct attack abilities, do you?" I asked knowingly.

My twin flinched at that. "No. I'll be honest in that. Most of my skills and Noble Phantasms are designed around scouting, support and getting others to fight for me. On the other hand, I haven't got the **Item Construction** skill; rather, I have the **Item Construction (False)** skill that allows me to construct [Formal Wear] and recovery items. Give me some time to set up my workshop and I'll have some ready for you as fast as I can, Master."

"OK, that is very reassuring, Caster." I nodded. "Go and set that up where you can, but find somewhere near the Throne Room. Let me know once you're done."

"Of course, Master." Caster said and bowed before walking out of the door.

"It is _so_ weird to talk to a Servant version of myself." I grumbled. "I'll bet no one else has had to do that."

(Across multiple realities, a redheaded boy and a white-haired Servant in red both sneezed and looked around in irritation, wondering who was talking about them.)

"Praetor…what she has said isn't everything to her legend." Sovereign Saber said quietly. "I can access the Throne of Heroes and find out about specific Heroic Spirits as long as I know their name. Everything that that Heroic Spirit version of yourself said was true, but there is a section in between defeating Saver and dying that is protected and I cannot read."

"She is likely trying to see if she can trust us, S. Saber." I countered. "Neither of you trusted me with your True Names right at the start, after all."

"Guh…!"

"Geh…!"

The looks of shame and consternation on their faces were making my heart twinge. They regretted doing that, even although it was the correct call at the time. I decided to cheer them up a bit. Standing up, I quickly pecked each of them on the lips and stood back to watch the show.

"Wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-!?" S. Saber spluttered, her face as red as a beet.

"Goshujin-sama!?" S. Caster blushed as she windmilled her arms in a visible display of her shock.

I couldn't really blame them. I wasn't really one for public displays of affection, even if the 'public' in question was only a couple of my other Servants, but in this instance, they had needed cheering up, so I had acted a bit flirtatious with them. Thus the million-watt blushes my precious Servants had on their faces right now.

"Cheer up you two." I said with a smile. "You made the right decision back then and I don't blame you for it in the slightest. No moping about it, do you hear?"

"…Praetor, you're so sly."

"Mou! Tamamo's supposed to be the one to gobble _you_ up, Master, not the other way around!"

"These two are half of a regular _manzai_ act, aren't they?" Saber asked in amusement.

"Ufufufufu~" Tamamo Cat giggled at the idiocy of her original.

After that, we got down to business. After we all trawled through various screens, we discovered the 'Kingdom Management' screen. This is what my kingdom looks like currently.

 **Kingdom Name: (Nameless)**

 **Capital: (Nameless)**

 **Cities: 1**

 **Data Point Output: 2000 DP/Day**

 **Data Point Expenditure: 1200 DP/Day**

 **Available DP: 800**

 **Servants: 9**

 **Attack Programs: 0**

Evidently I was lucky to receive a very good DP production city. The fact that I had nine Servants up and running, with only 1200 DP being expended meant that each Servant cost about 133 DP each to maintain per day, plus remaining fractions left over.

"Ya know, we really should have a name for our city." Saber mentioned. "Not to mention the kingdom. Fighting for our 'Master's Kingdom' doesn't sound very heroic, y'know."

"Fufufufufu…Neo Roma!" S. Saber declared.

"Shin Yamato!" S. Caster countered.

Annnnnnnd…there they go. Another spat. Sheesh. These two…I swear. I tapped the holographic keyboard a few times and smiled. "Done."

 **Kingdom Name: Tsukumihara Kingdom**

 **Capital: Mayonaka no Umi (The Midnight Sea)**

 **Cities: 1**

 **Data Point Output: 2000 DP/Day**

 **Data Point Expenditure: 1200 DP/Day**

 **Available DP: 800**

 **Servants: 9**

 **Attack Programs: 0**

"No fair!" both of my Sovereign Servants complained.

"If you can't keep from squabbling about trivial things, neither of you get what you want." I said sternly. I would have to be stricter on them in this war. Unlike the last time, there is no rule against attacking the enemy when outside of a certain location, so they had to pull themselves together.

From there, despite the sulky looks thrown my way from my…partners…we looked at the types of attack programs available to us. In addition to the [Bireme], [Trireme], [Spearman] and [Swordsman] templates we got from the Special Characteristic of the city's location, I also had access to the [Infantryman], [Bowmen] and [Unireme] templates.

 **[Infantryman]**

 **Equipment: Short Sword and Kite Shield**

 **All Parameters: E-**

 **Skills: None**

 **Noble Phantasms: None**

 **DP to Create: 10**

 **Production Time: 30 Minutes**

 **DP to Maintain: 5**

 **[Bowman]**

 **Equipment: Short Bow**

 **All Parameters: E-**

 **Skills: None**

 **Noble Phantasms: None**

 **DP to Create: 15**

 **Production Time: 45 Minutes**

 **DP to Maintain: 8**

 **[Unireme]**

 **Armament: Bowmen Equipped with Short Bows**

 **All Parameters: E**

 **Skills: None**

 **Noble Phantasms: None**

 **DP to Create: 20**

 **Production Time: 2 Hours**

 **DP to Maintain: 10**

They were, essentially, the epitome of 'quantity has a quality of its own.' A vast number could be created in a relatively short amount of time in order to overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers, unless they had a Servant with an Anti-Team or higher Noble Phantasm. Heck, even with an Anti-Unit one, a regular Servant could tear through hundreds of these things without even trying.

Their actual purpose, I realised eventually, amid Saber and S. Saber's derogatory words towards them, was as distractions. Ways to tie up Servants in order to keep them from interfering in other fights on the battlefield. A canny general would be able to use them to hold Servants at bay long enough to ensure their objectives were completed. Ultimately, although useful, Attack Programs were expendable in both the short and the long run. Unless there was something else about them that Father Kotomine hadn't told me.

It wouldn't surprise me if there was.

' _Master!_ ' A voice said urgently in my head.

' _Lancer?_ ' I sent back.

' _Master, there are a horde of Attack Programs advancing on the city!_ ' the small Servant said.

Muttering a curse, I leapt to my feet and grabbed my sceptre.

"Praetor?!" S. Saber exclaimed when she saw my serious expression.

"What is about, Master?" Saber asked intently.

"We're about to be attacked, according to Lancer." I answered. "Let's go to the walls to see for ourselves."

 _Walls of Mayonaka no Umi_

Lancer was standing atop the gatehouse as I, along with almost every other Servant I had summoned came to stand next to her. She pointed at once at the direction that the Attack Programs were coming from. I equipped a [Formal Wear] that Caster had hastily thrown together in her newly created workshop on hearing of the attack. The [Nearsight Glasses] allowed me to view something as if I were only a few meters away from it. Focussing on the Attack Programs, I blanched as I saw a horde of…monsters…approaching. They had the torso of a human, but everything from the waist down was that of a spider, sans the head. I used the Code Cast embedded in the [Nearsight Glasses], **{view_status}** to see exactly what these things were.

 **Arachnos Warrior**

 **Equipment: Short Sword**

 **Strength: D**

 **Endurance: D**

 **Agility: D+**

 **Mana: E**

 **Luck: E-**

 **Skills: None**

 **Noble Phantasm: None**

"They are…strong. Stronger than the Attack Programs we have available." I said with a swallow.

"And here's us all at E Rank with our parameters." Rider growled angrily. She had not taken the revelation of her reduced strength well, filling the air with profanity enough to make Saber blush. "Not to mention our bedamned Noble Phantasms are sealed!"

"I don't see any sign of a Servant though." I said as I peered through my [Formal Wear]. "There's about…two hundred or so of them, I think."

"Well, there are still three _full-powered_ Servants standing right here." Sovereign Saber smirked, gesturing at herself, Sovereign Caster and Caster with one hand. "We can-."

"I think that's a bad idea." Caster shook her head. "Remember what it was like during the last two Grail Wars? We had to gather Experience Cores from defeated Monster Programs and defeated Servants in order to perform the Alteration of the Soul to restore your powers. I think the process is similar here. But that means…"

"That means that they have to fight the enemies themselves in order to gather the EXP Cores." Tamamo finished with a sigh. "Meaning a fight with fully powered Servants interfering wouldn't give them any Cores. Muuu…!"

She looked unhappy, so I decided to cheer her up. "Don't worry, Sovereign Caster. You three have the important job of making sure no one sneaks up on me while the others are taking care of business."

That put light in Nero and Tamamo's eyes.

"Umu! No blade shall touch you, my Praetor!" S. Saber declared passionately.

"Tamamo will not permit her wife to suffer so much as a scratch!" S. Caster vowed.

"I shall lend my power to doing so, master." Caster smiled at me. She knew what I had done and approved. Man, seeing yourself from an outside perspective is so weird…

Shaking myself out of my stupor, I turned to my other Servants. "Rider, Saber, Lancer, Berserker…there are between two-hundred and two-hundred and fifty of those Arachnos Warriors approaching. Go and cut them down. Rider, you may keep anything that you deem as a treasure that you find on the bodies of the defeated programs."

That earned me a grin. "Thanks Admiral! I'll go shoot 'em full of holes!"

"I shall cut them down." Lancer hefted her scythe.

"This'll be good training." Saber mused with a smirk.

"Nya…remember to put **Mad Enhancement** back on me so I can fight as well as I can, Mistress." Berserker purred.

With that, the four Servants leapt down off the parapet wall and onto the ground outside the city. Immediately, they shot forwards like bullets. Even E Rank was enough to put a Servant above an ordinary human, as E Rank was ten times the power that a regular human could reasonably achieve in their lifetime. An Olympic athlete could only _dream_ of moving as fast as those three were moving for a fraction of a second.

Then they crashed into the onrushing horde of enemies. Well, _Saber_ did. She had drawn her katana and wakizashi and was spinning through the enemies like a whirling dervish, easily outreaching them with the length of her swords. She was a veritable storm of blades, severing limbs and bisecting the large Programs. The slight grin on her face was slightly disturbing.

Lancer had leapt into the air before spinning into a tornado with her scythe, slashing down all who came near her. Unlike with Saber, even the reach afforded to her by her weapon couldn't even the playing field, which one would normally see as a disadvantage. Instead, Lancer turned it to her advantage by lopping off the spidery limbs of the Arachnos Warriors and then killing them while they were in the middle of falling. Her scythe moved faster than the eye could see on occasion.

Rider was blazing away with her flintlock pistols, ensuring that any Arachnos Warrior who came near to her was mercilessly gunned down. The bloodthirsty smirk on her face was disturbing enough, but the locations she was aiming at -heart, head, gut and groin- were all on target, almost as if she were an Archer-Class Servant.

Berserker, once more under the effect of **Mad Enhancement** , fought like a feral animal, slashing and clawing with her feet and hands. Her body twisted and contorted into shapes that would break the body of even the most limber and flexible human. The expression of feral rage on her face was inhuman. It made one thing clear, something in common with the other three Servants.

None of them were human. They had ascended beyond that limitation, transcended the baseline of humanity to become akin to gods. They were the pinnacle of the dominating race of Earth, those who all knew in myth and legend.

They were _heroes_.

Moreover, they were _my_ Servants. I was practically having a heart attack here. I was terrified of them possibly dying, even although Rider had been my enemy before, and they had only been bound to me for a few hours.

"Praetor…be calm." A pair of thin, but strong, arms enfolded me in a hug from behind. S. Saber nuzzled into my hair as she spoke. "This is not what you ever wanted, my Master. You were an ordinary girl. Umu, you only ever wanted your memories back and to live an ordinary life. And yet you keep getting involved in all these situations…ah, 'tis not fair. If I could do something about it, then I would, but nay. It is not to be. Thusly, I shall make you this oath: I shall win this war for you and ensure that you enjoy your life to the fullest. So speaks Nero Claudius."

"A-hem!" S. Caster coughed pointedly. "Miss Saber, just _where_ do you think you are getting off, acting as if you are her only Servant? Tamamo is master's Wife also, you know! And it was always this Tamamo-no-Mae's intent to have her Goshujin-sama live a happy and enjoyable life!"

"…lucky…" Caster muttered as she snuck glances at me. I flushed. Looks as if Caster still has feelings for our mutual Servants. Is this a love triangle? Hmm…not enough sides. A love dodecahedron? No, that's too many. A love quadrilateral? Yep, sounds right.

With the battle, I could see that despite the slight status advantages that the Arachnos Warriors had, they were slowly getting defeated by my four Servants.

"This is odd." I remarked. "I would have thought that any attack like this, regardless of the number, would be a diversion to open up a hole in security. None of the Bounded Fields around the city have so much as twitched to indicate a breach."

"Umu…any warrior would know that this wouldn't work…so the one behind it must not be a warrior at all." S. Saber deduced, still hugging me. "Methinks we are dealing with a Caster, Praetor. What _luck_ that we decided to attack them…unless the Priest was listening in somehow and told the enemy Caster of our plans."

Sovereign Saber's voice promised pain for Father Kotomine should he have been proven to be behind the attack. As always, Nero does not forgive any sort of attack on me, whether by words or blades. Evidently, she was equating the city to my body now…

Spotting the fact that a recent push by the Arachnos, the remaining seventy-odd of them, had forced my Servants back, I reached out and cast **{gain_def(32)}** on each of them. I got a chorus of thanks from them…well, a low purr from Berserker, but you know what I mean.

With their defences reinforced, my four Servants counterattacked and commenced tearing the remaining Arachnos Warriors apart. They really were quite vicious about it. I wonder why?

"They are upset that you were so concerned about them that you had to intervene, Wife." S. Caster said, making me realise that I had spoken aloud. "They are heroes, but their current status frustrates them. Mah, I cannot blame them. This Tamamo recalls what it is like to be so gravely weakened such as that. It is most frustrating."

"It isn't just frustrating for the Servant, Sovereign Caster." Caster said with a sigh. "I do not know how master felt during her Grail War, but I was frustrated because I felt I was holding you back so much with our mangled contract."

"Hm." I hummed in agreement, enjoying S. Saber's arms around me. She smelled faintly of the roses that were her calling card and title. It wasn't overpowering, but it was there and I had always liked how comforting it was.

"Praetor…" Turning my head, I saw concern and love in Nero's emerald eyes. "You were _not_ at fault. It was _never_ your fault. Do not _ever_ think that."

"Miss Saber is correct." Tamamo walked forwards and cupped my cheek with one of her hands. "You were dragged into the Moon Cell Holy Grail War without knowing what was going on. Tamamo would think that the other Spiriton-Hackers had years to learn their craft, like I did with my Maleficium. The fact that you adapted so well to a fight for your life speaks well of you, but you never had any power before that happened. In no way did Tamamo or Miss Saber blame you for that, my wife."

I closed my eyes as Tamamo's cherry blossom scent mixed with the rose scent from Nero. I had always known, from the second week of the first War, that as long as I had these two with me, I would be fine. I would be safe. Being surrounded by them like this was intoxicating. It said to me, 'You are home.'

Safe.

"Ah, Master, the others have finished the battle." Caster said shyly. I had the feeling that she was looking aside bashfully. With reluctance, I opened my eyes and disentangled myself from my two oldest Servants, but not before kissing S. Caster's hand and S. Saber's cheek. The blushes never got old.

Seen a screen pop up before me, I discovered that the SE. RA .PH had tallied the dead and assigned an MVP…Saber, who had killed seventy-seven of the attackers. Lancer had killed sixty-four, while Berserker had slain sixty three and Rider had killed fifty-four. That added up to _two-hundred and fifty-eight_ Arachnos Warriors. To have _wasted_ so many powerful Attack Programs on a pointless attack…

"Umu…this was a foolish action by the enemy Caster." S. Saber nodded regally. "Those Attack Programs must have cost a lot of DP to create, with Parameters as high as they had. It is likely that the enemy Caster will not be able to recover the amount they spent on them soon. There is an opportunity to attack here while they are weak!"

"Saber, we need Attack Programs too." I reminded her. "To keep those Arachnos Warriors off of the Servants so they can invade the enemy city and palace to defeat or at least imprison the enemy Servant."

"Erg…I suppose so." S. Saber allowed begrudgingly. "That this Caster foe of ours is allowed to get away with attacking your city does vex me most terribly."

"Whoever it is isn't going to get away with it." I told her firmly. "We'll assemble an army, attack the city and take out the Servant who sent that force at us. The last thing we should do though is rush into it. One thing at a time."

"Umu…I am sorry." S. Saber sighed. "This war is more my sort of thing and it makes my blood sing. Do keep me from being too impetuous, Praetor."

"Of course." I nodded.

By this point, my other four Servants had returned and they had gathered EXP Cores and other assorted loot from the defeated Programs. Nice.

Looking at Medusa, something occurred to me.

"Lancer, is that scythe one of your Noble Phantasms?" I asked.

"Mm." she nodded. " **[Harpe: The Immortal Slaying Scythe]**."

"But…all of your Noble Phantasms should be sealed." I said in confusion.

"Belike that she can wield its form but not its function." Saber nodded. "It would be the same for any weapon-based Noble Phantasm."

I pulled up an interface and ran a search about the Noble Phantasm in question.

 **[Harpe: The Immortal Slaying Scythe]** : D Rank (Variable) ( _The scythe used by Perseus to behead Medusa. Originally belonging to the Grecian God Apollo. It is a counter-immortal blade that robs immortals and monsters of their 'undying attribute' and inflicts wounds against them that no magic or regeneration can heal from. Against any opponent with the_ **Divinity** _,_ **Authority of the Beast** _or_ **Fallen Demon** _Skills or is anything that can be described as an 'immortal monster' in any way, Harpe is ranked above the level of the applicable Skill or, if just a monster, A Rank, and inflicts wounds that can only be healed naturally rather than by magecraft. Against other enemies, it counts as a D Rank Noble Phantasm with no particularly special powers._ ) **[Anti-Unit, Anti-Divine] (Currently Sealed)**

I had to whistle at that. Harpe was a stronger Noble Phantasm than I had thought. We _had_ to get my Servants their Noble Phantasms back. I searched the interface on how to perform anything remotely similar to the Alteration of the Soul and smiled grimly when I found something.

"Right, back to the Throne Room." I said with a firm nod. "I can now try to get you some of your powers back."

This met unanimous approval from the four disempowered Servants, so we made all haste back.

Once back on my throne, I had Saber stand in the centre of a circle had had appear before the dais as I booted up the **[Servant Restoration]** system.

"Can you remember what your Parameters were supposed to be, Saber?" I asked.

"Aside from Mana, all of them are B Rank." She answered easily.

"All B, huh…" I muttered. "Any preference about what you want increased first?"

"Strength and Endurance." Saber stated quickly. "Luck too, if you can."

"You have _just_ enough EXP Cores for that." I nodded. "Just to D, I'm afraid, but it's better than nothing."

"The path of the warrior is a long one." The Servant of the Sword shrugged. I took that to mean that she was fine with taking it slowly.

With a few more keystrokes, the system consumed the EXP Cores in Saber's possession and the circle surrounded her in bright light. When it faded, Saber flexed her hands experimentally. "Huh…feels like I have one of my skills back."

"You do," I confirmed. "According to this, you just regained **The Book of the Five Rings** , a Skill that combines the Skills **Military Tactics** , **Eternal Arms Mastery** , **Charisma** and **Battle Continuation**. It's also a perquisite for your **Nothingness** Skill. It…that's odd. It has no rank."

"It matters not." Saber shook her head with a grin. "I'll be of more use to you now, Master. _Domo arigato_."

After that, it was Lancer's turn and she merely asked for her Strength to be increased as much as possible. That raised her all the way up to C Rank Strength and regained her the **Monstrous Strength** Skill, which she was happy about.

Next was Rider, who wanted her Strength, Endurance and Agility raised up. Unlike the others, she received no skill, but her Strength maxed out at D Rank, which was a plus, I had to suppose.

Finally, Berserker, once I removed **Mad Enhancement** again, had me increase her Luck Parameter, ending up at C Rank again. Like with Rider, Berserker regained no skills from this enhancement.

By the end of it, I was sagging in tiredness. I am an NPC, so how is it that I am tired? I guess working magic is tiring mentally?

"It has been a tiring day for our Master." S. Saber declared firmly. "Saber, you're on wall watch duty tonight. Caster, you guard the palace. Everyone else should grab some sleep while we can. Praetor, do we have a private room for us to sleep in?"

I nodded, stifling a yawn. "Yeah. Just below the Throne Room actually. Here."

Picking up my sceptre, I tapped the butt of it on the dais and it lowered down to the room beneath it, a door sliding into place once everyone on it was clear. The room beneath the throne room was spacious, but barren. All there was in the room was a king-size bed, which both of my partners called an insult.

"We are empresses!" Nero declared. "A mere _King-size_ bed is a paltry offering."

"I agree." Tamamo nodded in agreement. "Our Master has won two Holy Grail Wars, you know!"

I smiled at them before padding over to the bed and changing into my [Sovereign's Dress]. It would do for sleepwear. Crawling onto the bed and lying back, I crooked a finger at my two servants.

"Join me?" I asked enticingly.

Almost as soon as the words were out of my mouth, the two had changed into nightgowns and joined me on the bed. Sandwiched in between them, I sighed in contentment and snuggled in.

"Nero?" I said, using her True Name aloud. I rarely ever did that, except when we were in our private room together.

"Yes, Praetor?" she answered as she spooned me.

"Why do you think so many of my Servants are female?" I asked quietly. It had been bugging me a bit. The number of female alternates from parallel worlds and histories was large and everything, but there were at least as many males. The chances of 'drawing' an all-female team (aside from Archer) from the Moon Cell were pretty slim.

"I think, Praetor, it is because you have taken to associating males with pain and suffering." The blond empress mused. "Matō Shinji, Vlad the Impaler, Julius Harwey, Lu Bu, Li Shuwen, Leonard Harwey, Twice H. Pieceman, Hans Christian Andersen…all of these people are ones who have fought against you and caused pain and suffering to you. By contrast, most of the females have been either professional or kind to you. Lil' Ronnie and Heaven's Hole to one side. Even Rani and Tōsaka Rin, who were your enemies, aided you and guided you. I wonder if they are in this war too…?"

"I hope not." I whispered. "I don't want to fight Rin, at least. Rani is…easier to fight because she wasn't as personable or…she was more distant than Rin was."

"Humph. That twintailed _tsundere_ always did tickle your fancy, Master." Tamamo grumbled. "I don't like her."

"Nonetheless, she _did_ aid us during the First War, especially after we saved her from Rani self-destructing." Nero pointed out. "Honour demands that we at least take her alive if she is a part of this war. She would make a wonderful concubine for our master."

I flushed bright red at that.

"Nu-uh! No _way_!" The Servant of Regal Spells and Sorcery denied instantly. "Tamamo is not sharing her wife like that! It's bad enough that I have to share her with _you_!"

"Tamamo, it is her decision." Nero reminded her. "We are both here to support her, not place demands upon her. Besides…" I could practically _feel_ the wicked grin on her face right there. "… _I_ am confident enough in my charms to make sure our Praetor remembers who one of her best girls are. Are you so _lacking_ in confidence, Tamamo-no-Mae?"

Tamamo spluttered for a moment. "Of course I am!"

"Well then, there shouldn't be any trouble in Master having a harem then." The Empress of Roses delivered the final blow with almost surgical precision. "Now, let us sleep. Our master is exhausted both mentally and spiritually from today."

Sovereign Caster grumbled a bit, but snuggled into my front nonetheless. I can't imagine it was too comfortable, as I wasn't nearly as…endowed…as she and Nero were in that department.

It took us all a while, but we eventually managed to drop off to sleep, with no more dreams of cities on fire like the ones that had plagued me during the First War.

 _The Next Day_

Returning to the Throne Room was just as easy as leaving it. All of my Servants were present when Sovereign Saber, Sovereign Caster and I appeared, even Archer and Assassin.

"Hey. We're back." Archer waved.

"Reporting, Aruji." Assassin knelt before the dais.

"How was the way to the enemy city?" I asked.

"Mostly grasslands. No places to set up an easy ambush unless you use magecraft." Archer shrugged. "The enemy has a lot of patrols with at least ten Arachnos Warriors a group scattered all over the place, which'll slow us down a bit. I couldn't get any close than a couple of kilometres."

"Aruji." Assassin looked up at me, her yellow eyes serious. "City has weak walls. Weak gate. But inside covered in powerful Bounded Fields. Also, spiders. Lots of spiders."

"Spiders?" Tamamo wrinkled her nose slightly.

"Spiders." Assassin confirmed. "Very few Arachnos Warriors inside city. Fifty at most. Including patrols, enemy forces estimate to be one-hundred and eighty Attack Programs. Uncounted numbers of spiders, however."

"Hmm." I nodded. "Well done. Did you reduce the enemy's numbers at all?"

"Three patrols. Thirty Arachnos." Assassin confirmed.

"Ditto." Archer added. "Woulda been nice to know that my Parameters were all Ranked E before I left though."

"I didn't know that until after you left either." I informed him. "Or rather, it didn't occur to me to presume that to be the case until after you left. My apologies for that though."

I bowed my head in apology.

"Is of no concern." The petite karakuri Assassin dismissed. "Can Aruji change?"

"Can I restore your Parameters, Skills and Noble Phantasms, do you mean? Yes, I can do that." I nodded. "Only with enough items called Experience Cores though, and that means you have to fight the enemy."

"Easy enough." Archer shrugged. "I'm beat. See ya whenever you decide to attack that Caster…Master."

Activating **Independent Action** again, he vanished.

"You go and rest too, Assassin." I told her. "You and Archer will be leading the attack on this city of spiders and I want you fresh for it."

"By your command." The girl vanished as she spoke.

There was silence for a moment before Caster broke it. "So…any ideas about a Caster who has to do with spiders?"

"There are several goddesses to do with spiders…Uttu of Sumer, Ishtar of Babylon, Neith of Ancient Egypt, Minerva of Ancient Rome." Medusa listed.

"There's also Grandmother Spider of the Hopi and Iktomi of the Lakota people." Tamamo mused.

"Minamoto no Raikō faced a Tsuchigumo." Saber offered. "There are also Jorōgumo."

"There is another one." Sovereign Saber said gravely. "Arachne."

There was silence at this. Arachne, the supposed origin of all arachnids in the world according to the Ancient Greek myths. Cursed by Athena after a weaving contest, she became a monster.

"Well, it could be any of them." I sighed. During the C.C.C. Incident, BB had made so-called 'High-Servants' that were amalgamations of various goddesses, so the presence of goddesses here wouldn't surprise me.

"Umu. We can only wait and see." S. Saber nodded seriously. "Caster, you should accompany the army also to dismantle the Bounded Fields that may trap the others."

"EH?!" Caster looked startled. "I-I'll try, but…"

S. Saber smiled at my other self. "You shall do _fine_. We'll be sending along Berserker and Rider in addition to Archer and Assassin. All you'll have to do is dismantle the Bounded Fields. Leave the actual fighting to the others."

"R-Right." My counterpart nodded. "I'll…I'll go and make some [Formal Wear] to do that. Excuse me."

She hurried out of the Throne Room and I looked at S. Saber in disapproval. "She isn't a fighter, Nero. She's exactly as I was at the end of the First War. Sending her out without you and Tamamo by her side is a bit much to ask."

Sovereign Saber shifted uncomfortably. "Praetor...she is a Servant now. She can't rely on others forever."

"She told us yesterday that her main strength is _support_. She _isn't_ a fighter." I repeated. "At the very _least_ , I want one of you two to go with her."

"But…!" Nero protested weakly.

"She's still in love with you both." I said, cutting her off. "I can see it as plain as day. Are you deliberately ignoring her because she's from a world where you were unable to protect me?"

"No!" the two Sovereign Servants shook their heads firmly.

"Then go with her." I told them firmly. "She'll be acting as my...what's the Japanese word… _Kagemusha_ , I think it is."

"That would be correct, Master." Saber nodded.

"Yes…she suggested that role herself, but she expected to be _eased_ into it." I frowned at my two close Servants. "Rider will be staying behind while you both go. Once you've reached halfway to the city, I want you both to apologise to her. You were being unreasonably cold to her."

"Hai, Master." Tamamo said with a sad nod.

"I…very well, Praetor." Nero nodded slowly. "But why _both_ of us?"

"If Kotomine really _has_ been giving information away about us, then he'll have told the Caster that I never go anywhere without the two of you." I answered. "Seeing only one of you with 'me' will make the enemy Caster suspicious and I do actually want to go along with the army, but I'll cede it to Caster this time."

Very well, Praetor." Sovereign Saber nodded. "Now, hadn't you better start producing soldiers?"

Sighing, I moved to do so. This was going to be a _long_ war.

 **F/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGG**

 **Next Chapter: The City of Spiders**

 **F/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGG**


	3. The City of Spiders

**Author's Note: OK, so, Chapter 3 here. I've seen the first three episodes of Fate/Extra: Last Encore and I really don't like the way they oh-so-casually killed off the female Hakuno. Really irks me, just so you know. Anyway, enjoy.**

"Saber!" – Speech

' _Praetor!_ ' – Thoughts

" _ **I command you!"**_ – Command Seal Usage/Noble Phantasm Invocation

 **Chapter 3: The City of Spiders**

Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as simple as I had hoped. The Palace had a small barracks which could easily produce the [Infantryman] Attack Programs, but it couldn't do a thing about the naval side of things, and producing any of the more complicated land-based units was not efficient; as in, it would take twice the amount of time it would normally take to produce a [Swordsman] Program, just as an example.

Fortunately, there _was_ a way to improve things. My city, Mayonaka no Umi, had four 'districts' around the palace. One was the naval district and I could build shipyards, docks and piers there. What I was going to focus on though was the military district in between the palace and the main gate. One of the first things I could build there was a barracks.

 **Do you wish to purchase a LV1 [Barracks] for 150 DP?**

 **Y|N**

Hitting the 'Y' key, I stood up and looked out of the open door. On one side of the road between the palace and the main gate, the outline of a building had appeared and gradually started to build up out of nothing.

"That'll take about an hour to build." I told Sovereign Saber. "Should I save my DP for producing troops, or should I build a dock as well?"

"Goshujin-sama, don't ask this woman who emptied the coffers of her empire advice on spending things." Sovereign Caster advised me dryly. "Mugyu!"

The exclamation came from Tamamo when Nero bopped her on the head strongly enough to make her eyes cross.

"Do not defame me in front of my Praetor!" S. Saber shouted, her face bright red. Ah, Nero? I already knew about that, remember? We talked about it back at Tsukumihara, in My Room.

Rolling her eyes, Rider sauntered up to me. "Admiral, for the moment, we aren't faced with a serious naval threat. Save the dock until after we take care of the enemy Caster."

"Ok." I nodded back obediently. Saving DP is all to the good.

"In the meantime, could you do something about those two?" Rider indicated my squabbling Sovereign Servants, who were pulling each others' hair. Hoo boy. These two, I swear.

"Stop fighting or no kissing for two days." I said simply. Lo and behold, no fighting. Being the 'dominant' one in this relationship was quite the heady feeling.

"Not fair, Praetor!" Sovereign Saber pouted prettily.

"Muuu~" Sovereign Caster was also pouting.

Hey, don't make _me_ the bad guy here! You two were the ones fighting!

"Rider, could you make an expedition into the territory of the enemy Caster and eliminate all the roving patrols you can find?" I asked her. "The last thing we need is for them to get complacent and maybe send another horde of Attack Programs at us."

"Roger that." Rider smirked. "One raiding trip in progress!"

As she waltzed out, I turned to Saber, who was sitting in the _seiza_ position and cleaning one of her swords. I don't think she has to do it like that, as the SE. RA .PH automatically kept them clean regardless of how many Attack Programs she cut into ribbons. Was she doing it out of habit, perhaps?

"Saber." I said, drawing her attention.

"Aruji-dono?" she asked. It was odd how all my Servants developed their own way of referring to me. Praetor, Goshujin-sama, Aruji, Aruji-dono, Admiral…what next, I had to wonder?

"I'd like you to be the palace guard today." I told her. "Honestly, I doubt we'll have to worry about anyone making it that far, but better safe than sorry."

"Heh. Caution is never a bad thing in a new general, Aruji-dono." Saber told me, slipping a tress of pink hair behind one ear as she stood up. How her knees weren't sore after all of that kneeling in the _seiza_ position, I don't know. "I'll head to my post right now."

"I'm counting on you." I said with a smile.

With a slight blush, the female Musashi Miyamoto headed out to guard the palace entrance. With that done, I returned to my throne and started browsing the options for the city. The upgrades for the military section of the city were limited right now, as the [Barracks] wasn't complete, but there were several I could see being useful, such as the [Archery Range], which would produce [Longbowmen], an upgraded version of the [Archer]. There was also the [Military Academy], which would improve the stats of the basic [Infantryman] to E across the board.

Then there were the other three sections of the city. The naval district had three buildings I could build initially; [Dockyards], [Shipyards] and [Piers]. [Dockyards] were where ships, such as the [Unireme], were built. They were then transferred to [Piers] to be moored until they were needed. [Shipyards] were where upgrades for ships and ship-types were purchased.

As an example, none of the combat ships had rams. Galleys back during the Grecian and Roman periods almost always had rams at the prows for ramming other ships in combat. Another upgrade was added cladding on the ships to protect them from arrow fire.

The other two districts of the city were odd. One was what I would call the industrial sector. Purchasing buildings here, such as the [Blacksmith] and the [Forge] would allow me to upgrade the weapons and armour used by my Attack Programs, while the [Carpenter's Guild] and [Fletcher] would increase the speed of production from the [Dockyards] and [Archery Range] specifically.

The last district was what I call the cultural district. It was locked at the moment and needed me to purchase the library upgrade for the palace before it could be viewed. Bizarre, but whatever.

My DP income is worrisome. I get 2000 DP per day, of which 1200 is taken away to maintain the existence of my Servants. This leaves 800 DP to purchase upgrades and Attack Programs. I didn't buy anything yesterday, so I had 1600 DP to start off with. I had spent 150 of that to purchase the [Barracks] and had taken Rider's advice to leave the naval side of things alone for the moment. This left me in a conundrum as to what to do with the remaining DP.

Spending it all was a big no-no. Still, I should prepare a guard force, at the very least. Entering the [Palace Barracks] menu, I ordered the construction of twenty [Infantryman] Attack Programs. Once they were finished, they would assemble at the palace's training field and await orders. Down went another two-hundred DP.

The palace itself worried me, because it had no walls. That wouldn't do, but the price for basic walls was another 500 DP, which I couldn't afford to spend at the moment. A moat though…a moat, plus a drawbridge, was only 250 DP. It wouldn't stop a Servant from entering the palace, but it would stop Attack Programs with D+ Rank or less Agility from crossing. I bought it.

The rumbling told me that it was going well. The map I brought up told me that the city was actually expanding outwards to accommodate the space needed for the moat to actually pose an obstacle. Then a message popped up.

 **As a result of your city expanding in size, your Data Output is increased from A- (2000 DP a day) to A (2500 DP a day)! You receive +500 DP!**

Well now. That's a pleasant surprise.

"Praetor! What is the rumbling?!" S. Saber exclaimed in worry.

"Oh. I should have told you." I said in embarrassment. "I just bought a moat and drawbridge. The city is expanding to accommodate it. Not only that, the expansion has raised the Data Output of the city from A- to A, meaning we get an extra 500 DP per day."

"Ohhh! That is good news." The blonde nodded eagerly. "More funds are always a good thing."

"Goshujin-sama, next time you make wide sweeping changes to the city, tell us before you do it." S. Caster said dryly. "I thought we were under attack there for a moment."

I smiled sheepishly at her. "Sorry. I didn't think there would be rumbling or the like. I'll keep you all informed better in the future."

I sent out a telepathic message to the other Servants to reassure them that nothing was amiss before getting back to my study of the city. What was bothering me was the lack of ability to innovate. I was certain that there was a way to do it, but how?

My eyes fell on the option to purchase the [Palace Library] for a mere 50 DP. Purchasing that would unlock the cultural district. I would bet a Command Seal that it would be that district which let me innovate, so I quickly purchased the library.

 **[Palace Library] purchased! Estimated time to completion: 30:00.**

Gah, these building times were driving me nuts!

I suddenly heard the sound of purring and look down. Unbeknownst to me, Berserker had snuck up to me while I was focussed on the interface and my hand had automatically started to pet her head and scratch the base of her ears. Tamamo Cat had a look of absolute bliss on her face.

"Jiiiiiiiiiiiii~!" a certain very jealous Caster-class Servant was glaring at my hand on Berserker's head. Oh come on!

In between fending off the jealousy of one Tamamo-no-Mae and the puppy dog eyes (or should it be puppy _fox_ eyes?) of Tamamo Cat, thirty minutes passed rather quickly. When it was finished, I eagerly read the description of the library before frowning. The library was more convenient, yet more limited than I had hoped.

"Assassin." I said, the petite kunoichi appearing in front of me in a kneeling position.

"Aruji." The karakuri girl said with her head bowed.

"Kindly relieve Saber as the Palace Guard and get her to meet me at the new Palace Library." I told the girl.

"By your command." Assassin nodded before vanishing.

"Praetor?" Nero looked at me with a frown.

"We're going to the library." I said with a smirk. "We have a trick we can use."

It took only a couple of minutes to go to the library, with Saber waiting outside of the wooden door that had appeared in the palace. Entering the room, it was about the same size as the library as Tsukumihara Academy. It had rows of empty shelves across the walls and standing to one side of the room. In the place where the librarian would be sitting behind a desk was instead a terminal with a handprint-shaped symbol in the centre of it.

"Why are we here, Praetor?" Sovereign Saber asked with a slight hint of impatience in her voice.

"We are going to be filling this library up." I waved one hand at the empty shelves. "That will give us _so many_ options with the Attack Programs!"

"What do you mean, Aruji-dono?" Saber asked, a look of confusion on her face.

"The four districts in the city are military, naval, industrial and cultural." I started to explain. "This [Palace Library] is necessary to unlock the cultural district and there is a good reason for that. When a Servant presses their hand to that panel over there, the SE. RA .PH fills the library with the condensed knowledge of the Servant. In other words, any useful knowledge is turned into books!"

"Umu, Umu…" Nero nodded slowly. "And this is needed why?"

"You were the Emperor of the Roman Empire; you had to have inspected the Legions at some point, correct?" I asked.

"Indeed!" the blond Empress of Roses nodded firmly.

"Then all of your knowledge of them will be here." I waved at the shelves. "From here, it will go to the cultural district and I will be able to research various things, ultimately adding a [Legionary] Attack Program to the roster. The same thing would apply with Musashi; I'd be able to add [Samurai], [Ashigaru] and other kinds of troops. Knowledge is power, ladies."

"Ohh! This is amazing!" Saber declared, her eyes wide.

"Yup. Unfortunately, I can only scan in the knowledge of two Servants at the moment." I said sourly. "I have to unlock half of the troops and upgrades from the knowledge gained from them before I can purchase a space upgrade for this room. Anyway, I'd like both Sabers to bestow their knowledge to the library."

"Why both of them?" Lancer asked.

"The Legions of Ancient Rome conquered most of Europe through discipline, strategy and tactics." I answered. "They'll make the best mainstay troops. Samurai are highly skilled warriors, so they'll also make good troops, but they'll be more expensive, I think, so they'll be the elite troops."

"I don't think I'll be able to give you any good units." The short scythe-wielder said with a frown. "I never saw any soldiers or the like up until the point of my summoning; just my sisters."

"Stheno and Euryale, right?" I asked for confirmation.

"I miss them." The girl sighed sadly.

I patted the one feared as the Gorgon on the head gently. "You never know if they're here or not. You'll see them at some point, I'll bet."

"Mm." the girl blushed.

"Umu." Nero nodded. "I shall go first then." She made quite a performance of placing her hand on the terminal, which was just like her. A curtain of light surrounded her for a moment before vanishing. Then, half of the library's bookshelves was stuffed full of books. Books on noble etiquette, books on various forging techniques, books on the arts, books on swordsmanship, books on battle strategy, books on everything and everything known to the Fifth Emperor of the Roman Empire.

There was even a pink book decorated with roses that I spotted with my picture on it. Eh? What the heck? Nero noticed it, blushed scarlet and quickly took the book away from my reaching hand in three seconds flat.

"That's private!" was all she said about it, leaving me blinking in surprise.

Girls are _weird_. I'm a girl too, I realise this, but still.

Then Saber pressed her hand to the terminal and naturally, the first book to appear was the _Book of the Five Rings_ , the ultimate work of Musashi Miyamoto. I'd have to give it a read at some point. The other books weren't as complete as the one she wrote herself, mostly because this Musashi was a Rurōni, a wanderer, rather than a soldier and duellist that the legend of Musashi Miyamoto that I was most familiar with.

"Right, that's that done." I nodded, seeing that the shelves were all full. "Let's go and see exactly what this has unlocked for us."

Boy, was it a _lot_. I was able to actually view the cultural district when we returned to the throne room, which was expected. What wasn't expected was the sheer number of improvements that the knowledge of the two Heroic Spirits had yielded. Some were just superfluous, such as the amount of knowledge that Nero had about singing, dancing, painting, etc. That I could safely place under the heading of 'fun but useless.'

The rest was interesting, separating into various sword techniques (mostly from Musashi, but with a fair few from Nero), weapon forging techniques (all from Nero), architectural techniques, tactics, strategy…the list went on. I was going to enjoy building these guys up.

I went ahead and built the [Academy] for 100 DP. It would let me purchase the basic upgrades for my troops and their battle flexibility. Again, I held off on buying anything too expensive; there was also the [Stonemason's Guild] for improving my buildings and the [Engineer's Guild] for Siege Weaponry.

Unfortunately, while I was correct in assuming that the [Legionary] and [Samurai] Attack Programs existed, it would take quite some time to build up to them. I needed the right advances for their armour and the like. Seriously, the SE. RA .PH was too damn finicky, over a bunch of weakling Attack Programs!

Huffing in discontent, I noticed that the [Barracks] was finished, so I pulled up its menu. There were the [Infantryman] and [Archer] I had seen in the menu before, now where was…ah, so the [Swordsman] and [Spearman], despite being given to me, were upgrades that had to be paid for? Was the SE. RA .PH discriminating against me because I'd won two previous Holy Grail Wars? It really was, wasn't it?!

Fortunately, the cost was merely 150 DP each, so I went ahead and bought them both, with no damned time lag for researching! The [Swordsman] was 15 DP per soldier, while the [Spearman] was 17 DP per soldier. Slightly more expensive, but what did their stats look like? Better investigate…

 **[Swordsman]**

 **Equipment: Longsword, Light Armour, Targe Shield.**

 **Mana: E**

 **All Other Parameters: D**

 **Skills: None**

 **Noble Phantasms: None**

 **DP to Create: 15**

 **Production Time: 1 Hour**

 **DP to Maintain: 8**

 **[Spearmen]**

 **Equipment: Fauchard Spear, Light Armour, Medium Round Shield, Short Sword**

 **Mana & Agility: E**

 **All Other Parameters: D**

 **Skills: None**

 **Noble Phantasms: None**

 **DP to Create: 17**

 **Production Time: 1 Hour**

 **DP to Maintain: 9**

Hmm…they were better than the [Infantrymen], by quite a lot, actually. I cannot _believe_ that the basic units have no armour! The [Archer] units don't either! What the heck?!

"Umu. It's like the barbarian tribes who hounded the borders of the Roman Empire, Praetor." Nero said when I exclaimed this out loud. "Speed and agility over armour protection."

But they didn't have speed and agility either!

OK, calm down. Ignore the stupid choices made by the SE. RA .PH. It isn't worth getting worked up over.

So, now that I'm calm. I have to start producing units. I don't want to spend ALL of my DP, but I do have to have a few units made up, so…I'll make 80 [Swordsmen], which is 1200 DP. This leaves me with 100 DP for any minor problems.

Fortunately, a part of the Barracks was the Parade Ground, where they'd assemble, and they didn't require sleep or food. I checked the DP Income/Outgoing Expenses Table.

 **Income: 2500 DP/Day**

 **Servant Upkeep: 1200 DP**

 **Attack Program Upkeep: 760**

 **Total Daily DP Expenditure for Upkeep: 1960**

Urgh…this wasn't good. We couldn't afford to get any more Attack Programs until we had more DP to work with…but we _needed_ the Attack Programs to get ahold of said DP…it was a vicious circle.

' _Hey Admiral!_ ' Rider's voice called to me telepathically. ' _You'd better get a welcoming committee ready, because I've kicked over a hornet's nest over here. I'll be back in two minutes, with another couple of hundred Arachnos Warriors on my tail!_ '

"Again?!" I groaned. "Seriously, just how high is that city's DP income?!"

' _Got it, Rider._ ' I sent back mentally. ' _Be safe._ '

' _I'll try, but these things aren't making it easy!_ '

"Goshujin-sama?" Tamamo asked in concern.

"Rider's on her way back, pursued by more Arachnos." I said with a sigh as I pinched the bridge of my nose. Being a ruler was tough, and this was only the first full day! "Archer."

A moment later, the lackadaisical man strode into the throne room with a yawn. "Yo. What's up?"

"Another attack." I told him. "Grab Assassin and head out to meet them once they're outside the city walls. You need to regain your former strength and I can't do that without you gathering Experience Cores."

"Huh. OK, boss. On it." Archer nodded. He turned to leave.

"And Archer?" I added, making him turn back to face me.

"Yeah?"

"Fight as you please. Let the enemy know that the name of Robin Hood isn't an empty title." I said with a smile. In both of the Grail Wars he had fought in, he hadn't been able to fight as he preferred, constrained by Sir Dan Blackmore's code of chivalry in the first war and then by his dwindling supply of mana after BB broke the bond between him and his master during the second war. With no limits like that this time around, it was best to let him fight as he pleased.

A small smirk crossed the normally disinterested and laconic face of Archer. "Heh. I was planning on it."

He vanished, once more activating **Independent Action**.

"Muuu~!" S. Caster growled. "I don't like him. He's _so_ disrespectful to you, Goshujin-sama!"

"Archer's rough around the edges, but he has a good heart, Tamamo." I told her. "Let's go and watch Rider, Assassin and Archer fight."

"Umu! It is a shame that we do not have a colosseum for the battle to take place in, but we cannot have everything." The Empress of Roses sighed. She did love the colosseum, so much so that her **[Aestus Domus Aurea: Golden Theatre of the Flamboyant]** Noble Phantasm was about 90% based on one in appearance.

"Well then, let us go." I grabbed my Sovereign Servants' hands and led them to the wall, followed by my other Servants. We reached the top of the gatehouse just as Rider came over the horizon. Seconds later, a tide of [Arachnos Warriors] appeared behind her.

"How?" Lancer frowned. "We destroyed over two-hundred and fifty of those earlier today. How could the Caster have prepared so many and send them at us again so soon?"

"Archer and Assassin didn't report these numbers either." Caster said with a frown. My doppelganger had kept pretty quiet since S. Saber and S. Caster had tripped up when speaking to her. It had taken me a bit of persuasion to get her to leave her Workshop and I resolved to have words with her before the end of the day.

"True. That means that either the Caster has exceptionally _good_ Bounded Fields to have hidden them from both Assassin and Archer or that they had more than enough DP to spend to create this many Arachnos twice in one day." I mused. "I'm not sure I know which I like the idea of less."

"Umu, I agree." Nero clasped my hand strongly, yet gently. She treated me like I was made of finely-spun silk sometimes, yet grasped me tightly as if someone were about to throw me over their shoulder and make off with me at a moment's notice.

Despite Matō Sakura/BB's Yandere nature regarding me, I wasn't _that_ popular!

It was still a mystery to me how I had managed to be fortunate enough to have both Nero and Tamamo fall for me. I was as plain as plain could be without being ugly, while they were both gorgeous. It made my heart skip a beat when I considered that _they_ were _mine_ , and _I_ was _theirs_.

I was brought out of my thoughts when several members of the front rank of [Arachnos Warriors] sprouted arrows, kunai and shuriken, falling to the ground. Obviously Assassin and Archer were having fun.

"It's hunting time!" Rider shouted. She leapt into the air, twisting and somersaulting around to face the charging spider-men whilst drawing and firing her pistols rapidly, dropping four in under a minute.

" _El Draque_ is having fun." Caster said with a dry smile.

"She is." I agreed. "If any of them miraculously make it past the three of them, intervene, Caster."

"Understood." My doppelganger nodded. It wasn't simple pride in my Servants that made me all but state that Caster was only an unneeded safety net in this battle. It was confidence in them that they would not allow a single one of the enemies to escape their sights. That their pride as Heroic Spirits would not permit it to happen.

It had been belief in my Servants that had gotten me through Tsukumihara and the Sakura Labyrinth. It had been my faith in them that had held my fragile mind together throughout the deaths of Matō Shinji, Dan Blackmore, Alice, Lil' Ronnie, Rani, Julius B. Harwey and Leo Harwey. It was both that had allowed me to conquer the Moon Cell twice before and so, it was to belief and faith that I would entrust my hopes and life to once again.

Assassin appeared, slashing quickly and efficiently with her short blades at joints and the gaps between chitin plates before using her agile movements to dodge all the return attacks. She threw down smoke bombs that exploded, engulfing her and a wide swathe of the [Arachnos Warriors] in dark green smoke.

When the smoke cleared minutes later, not a single enemy Attack Program that had strayed into the cloud of smoke was still alive. Standing indifferently amidst the defeated and vanishing warriors was Katō Danzō.

"She is going to be scary when she gets her full power back." I gulped. There had been over fifty Arachnos in that cloud and she had killed them in less than three minutes!

"All the better for you, Goshujin-sama." Tamamo wrapped her tail around me as she spoke, the cuddly and warm nature of her fur making me almost melt. She rarely did this, so I considered it a rare treat when it happened. "You need all the strong Servants you can get to win this war."

"I have two of the strongest with me right now." I murmured bashfully.

"We are only strong because of you, Praetor." Nero informed me with a gentle squeeze of her hand. I knew very well that she could strangle a lion barehanded like Heracles had done quite easily, so the fact that she was so gentle with me was very comforting. Knowing how strong she was, yet also knowing that she would never, ever, turn that self-same strength against me. Not because I was her Master and she was my Servant, but because she loved me.

As I flirted with my Sovereign Servants, Archer was firing that arm-mounted crossbow of his so quickly I had to wonder as to whether it was secretly a repeating crossbow in disguise. Just watching the ease at which he sent his arrows into the enemies was chilling. I remember when he hit me with that Yew Poison that all of his arrows possessed; I felt awful, not just because of the poison, but because of the panic in Nero and Tamamo's eyes. They had been seriously worried about losing me.

Rider wasn't just blazing away with her pistols; she also employed her long legs in kicks and hammered away with the butts of her pistols in close combat as well. Her wild laughter echoed across the battlefield as she taunted her enemies.

"What's the matter? Is this all you've got?!" she shouted as she smashed her heel through the face of one [Arachnos Warrior] whilst simultaneously shooting two more in opposite directions.

"Geh…as always, that woman is so unrefined…" Sovereign Caster wrinkled her button nose in distaste.

"She gets the job done though." Caster observed. "Rather nice to see it done unto others rather than being done unto me."

"I'm with her." I chimed in and exchanged a knowing look with my doppelganger. Being on the receiving end of Rider's **[Culverin Cannons]** Noble Phantasm was _not_ fun.

Soon enough, all of the [Arachnos Warriors] were dead and the split was actually fairly even, with Assassin actually coming out ahead slightly with 88 kills, Rider coming in second place with 87 and Archer coming last with 86. Two-hundred and sixty-one [Arachnos Warriors] this time, eh?

"Right. Back to the Throne Room so I can boost their stats." I said briskly. I had a suspicion about which Parameter Rider would want increased…

"Admiral! Put it all into my Luck parameter!"

…Aaaannnd I was right.

"As I thought." I chuckled.

"Damn right!" Drake nodded firmly. "I want my EX-Rank Luck back!"

Inputting the data and watching as the Experience Cores were consumed by the system, my eyebrows shot up as Rider's Luck rose to D Rank and halfway to C Rank!

"Apparently, you have an affinity for the Luck Parameter." I noted dryly. "You're almost halfway to C Rank Luck."

"Hell yeah!"

"Assassin, which Parameters would you prefer to be increased?" I asked once Rider stepped aside and the petit karakuri girl stepped forwards.

"Strength. Endurance." The kunoichi answered softly.

"You can have another parameter raised with the cores you have." I said once I finished tapping away at the interface.

"Agility." Assassin said after a moment's hesitation.

"OK." I added that one with a smile. Agility for an Assassin was a no-brainer. I hit the key to start the Alteration of the Soul and it worked. No Skills were unlocked though, which was a shame.

Archer dumped some into his Luck and some into his Agility. Surprisingly, he got a Skill unlocked; **Golden Rule** , an E-Rank Personal Skill that would increase the amount of treasure he would find in battle slightly. All to the good.

Surprisingly (and to the immense disappointment of Rider) there hadn't been anything you could call treasure on the [Arachnos Warriors'] bodies aside from the Experience Cores. This was highly bizarre to me; even the weak monsters in the very first of the Arenas of the Seven Chimeric Seas had given various drops.

"A deliberate action by the enemy Caster, or an oversight by the SE. RA .PH, I wonder?" I muttered to myself. I just couldn't wrap my head around it. My city could barely support nine Servants and a hundred Attack Programs, so how the hell had the enemy Caster's city produced over five-hundred Attack Programs in a single day? Moreover, I had noticed that there was an automatic system that assigned drops to Attack programs, one I couldn't turn off. How had the enemy Caster gotten around that?

Shaking my head, I returned my attention to my Servants. "The situation is grim. While we have successfully fought off the two attacks that the enemy Caster has sent against us, the reality is that we are running low on DP. Even with the unexpected increase to our income, most of our income is being eaten up. I have built a meagre hundred Attack Programs, which will have to do the job. Archer, Assassin, Caster, Lancer, Sovereign Saber, Sovereign Caster, tomorrow, you shall attack and conquer the city of the enemy Caster."

"Praetor, is there a need to send Lancer along with us?" Nero said in worry. "That just leaves Rider, Berserker and Saber to protect the city."

' _And you._ ' was not needed to be spoken.

"They have my confidence." I nodded at the three remaining Servants. "If all the enemy Caster is going to do is repeat the attack pattern from today, then three Servants are more than enough to hold them at bay. In a worst case scenario, I will add to their power with a Command Seal. Plus, I'll be building more Attack Programs tomorrow. Thirty [Spearmen] to act as a wall guard."

"Thirty isn't a lot, Goshujin-sama." Tamamo said with a frown.

"When beset by wolves, a handful of sharpened wooden rods are as good as a perfectly sharpened sword." Saber shook her head. "We'll be on the outer wall, while Aruji-dono is here in the palace, with the drawbridge up and the [Spearmen] blocking all paths into the throne room. Our Master _will_ be safe."

Rider and Berserker nodded fiercely in agreement. My Sovereign Servants still looked reticent.

"If, somehow, the enemy gets past three Heroic Spirits, over the moat and through my [Spearmen], I'll use an Imperial Command Seal to summon one of you back to me." I promised. "Speaking of which…Caster, can you make a [Formal Wear] that resembles the Tsukumihara girl's uniform for me?"

"Eh? Yes, of course." My doppelganger nodded. "I can have it ready before we depart tomorrow."

"Good. I'll come by your workshop tomorrow to pick it up." I said with a nod. I needed a chance to talk to her without other Servants listening in. Hopefully, she would tell me what was bothering her. I could see it, whenever she looked at Nero and Tamamo. Underneath the love and longing, she was _ashamed_ whenever she looked at my Servants. I had to find out why. We were both basically the same person, after all, so I had a pretty good guess at why she was ashamed.

I just hoped my words would help her.

 _Day Three_

"Admiral…your eyes are red." Rider noted as I entered the throne room. I had just come from Caster's room and was wearing my [Tsukumihara

"Ah…yes." I smiled a bit hollowly. "I just heard a very…sad story. Enough to dry up my tears for a while."

What Caster had been forced to do…by all the gods…!

I shook my head. It would be up to Caster…to the Kishinami Hakuno who had died…to tell Nero and Tamamo what she had done. I had listened and reassured her, but she had to take the next step herself.

Wiping my eyes again, I walked over and seated myself on my throne, opening the interface and ordering the construction of the thirty [Spearmen]. Once they were completed, the army would march out.

"Shujin?" Berserker plopped herself down at my feet, looking up entreatingly at me.

 _Shujin?_ That meant either 'Master' or 'Husband' didn't it?! Well, she _was_ a part of Tamamo-no-Mae, so seeing me as either or both of those meanings wasn't impossible, but I had a bad feeling that this would kick up Sovereign Caster's jealousy again.

Jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii~!

Oh hell. There she was, peering into the throne room with a glare at her burin. Why did this have to happen now?

"This place never gets boring!" Rider chortled as I squirmed uncomfortably under Tamamo's glare.

" _So_ glad to entertain." I drawled. "Where's everyone else, by the way?"

"Sovereign Saber said something about 'inspecting the troops' and Saber followed her." the redhead smirked. "Lancer and Assassin are on the walls, keeping an eye out for any incoming attackers. Sovereign Caster is where you can see her, ditto for Berserker, Archer's god knows where and Caster is in her workshop."

I sighed. "As expected, everyone's off doing their own thing."

Seriously, the fact that my two partners are going to be leaving my sight for at least a day was not something I enjoyed contemplating. I was a weak person, utterly dependent on my Servants for moral support. As Nero had said the previous day, I was not suited for battle, nor had I ever desired it. I was a hollow person, having nothing more than the desire to not die when the First Moon Cell Holy Grail War began.

The eventual discovery that I was an NPC, a copy of an actual person, had strangely made sense. The revelation that my original had Amnesia Syndrome made just as much sense; if _she_ had no memories, naturally _I_ wouldn't either. But…as I lived with Nero and Tamamo during the War, I developed wants and desires of my own. I wanted to live, certainly, but I also grew to want, _need_ , my Servants.

All that being the case, despite the idea being my own, I was _not_ happy about the pair of them being apart from me for an extended duration of time. Still, it was needed just in case Father Kotomine was supplying information about me to the enemy.

I just hoped the plan worked.

 _Later_

 _With Heroic Spirit Kishinami Hakuno_

I eyed the forms of my Master's Servants as we walked. Forty of the [Swordsmen] marched in front of us, forty behind us, with ten of the [Infantrymen] to either side of us. Although the command of the Attack Programs had been passed to Sovereign Saber, they had orders embedded in them by Master, placing our survival as the paramount concern of the [Swordsmen] and [Infantrymen].

' _How like me to do that._ ' I sighed with a sad smile. It really was amazing how the difference of one decision could affect a timeline. In one timeline, Twice H. Pieceman was either too arrogant or dismissive of the possibility of defeat to consider a failsafe mechanism. In another, he made one regardless of his opinions.

But for that decision, my master and I, both with the name Kishinami Hakuno, are identical. I had talked with her this morning and hit the highpoints of the First Moon Cell Holy Grail War. Every opponent we faced, every meeting with Rin and Rani, even what we discussed with our Servants…all of it exactly the same. And yet, the way each of us had ended up was so completely different.

"Caster…are you still fine to continue?" Sovereign Saber asked carefully. I think Master must have scolded them for being rude to me, because Nero and Tamamo had both been stepping on eggshells around me since yesterday.

"I'm fine, Saber." I smiled wanly back at her. She was so like _my_ Saber, heck she _was_ my Saber, except…she was _not_ my Saber. She was _Master's_ Sovereign Saber.

This was becoming ridiculous. I had to tell them before we got to the city. I couldn't prevaricate any longer. They deserved to know.

"Can we stop for a moment?" I asked softly. "There's…there's something I have to tell you both."

"Umu." Nero nodded her head slowly, eyes wary.

In short order, the column came to a halt near an outcropping of rocks. Lancer, Archer and Assassin stayed with the Attack Programs while the Sovereign Servants and I walked a bit away so we could speak in private.

"G-…Caster-san, what is it you need to tell us?" Tamamo's voice caught at the first letter of 'Goshujin-sama.'

"It really is hard to call me anything but your pet name for our Master, isn't it, Tamamo?" I gave her a soft smile. "Having me around must hurt you both."

"No!" Nero said sharply. "You are our Master who became a Heroic Spirit! The pride we feel for you and our Praetor is unmatched!"

"It's just…" Tamamo started hesitantly. "How did we let you die?"

I turned around to look across the wide and rolling plains as I contemplated how to answer her. The eyes of the two Servants who I had loved in life bored into my back.

"Because I betrayed you both." I said finally.

"Wha…?" Nero breathed.

"Tamamo…Tamamo doesn't understand." The _Burin_ of Amaterasu stuttered out.

"What I told you two days ago in the throne room was the truth." I said softly. "The sole difference between our master's timeline and my own was that Twice H. Pieceman had a virus set to a Deadman's Switch for if the unthinkable (to him) happened and Saver was defeated. It infected my body almost as soon as you both defeated Saver."

I shuddered, remembering the realisation that I was infected. "Neither of you realised that though. I kept it to myself, right up until we were in front of the SE. RA .PH Core. When we got there, the infection became almost too much for me and it started eating away at my body."

I heard teeth grinding behind me as Tamamo likely imagined that happening to our Master. She was so sweet and kind normally, a bit overbearing, granted, but she loved our Master so much that the very thought of me/her being harmed was basically anathema to her.

"This is where I betrayed _my_ Nero and Tamamo." I turned around at last to face them. I could at least look them in the eye as I revealed this to them. "I used the last Command Seal I possessed to basically freeze the pair of them in place while I staggered into the Core."

The widening eyes of the two Servants told me that they knew exactly what that meant: I had basically committed suicide. No NPC could be present inside of the Moon Cell Core without being deleted by the Serial Phantasm.

"Before I was deleted, I made a wish." I smiled softly. "My wish was this: That Nero Claudius and Tamamo-no-Mae were to be transmigrated to Earth, with the knowledge on how to cure someone of the condition known as Amnesia Syndrome, during the time that the _real_ Kishinami Hakuno was placed into cold sleep, sometime _after_ the year 2000, but _before_ the year 2030."

"You…you _sacrificed_ yourself…for _us_ …!" Nero said softly, her eyes wide and bright.

"I was _already dying_ , Saber." I sighed, looking down at my feet. "I could deal with that after discovering that I wasn't really human. I was just a copy, a bunch of lines of computer code given form. But you two? I loved you both, so, _so_ much. I couldn't sit back and let you both die! Not when I could do something about it!"

"We were your Servants! We love you as well!" Tamamo shouted, pink spots of anger on her cheeks even as tears fell from her eyes. "How could you _do that_ to us?! I can only imagine how our other selves felt when you did that!"

My shoulders slumped. " _I know._ " I whispered. "I _know_ that what I did was unforgivable."

I looked up again. "I told this to Master before we left. Do you know what she did?"

"What?" Nero asked warily. She had a look in her eyes that told me she had a good idea what Master had said.

"She hugged me and said, 'Good. I would do the same in a heartbeat.'" I quoted softly. Seeing the sick looks on their faces, I smiled sadly at them. "You two _really_ don't know how much you mean to her, do you? You made contracts with us despite us being substandard Masters. You supported us, held us after we realised how old Matō Shinji really was, saved us time and time again…to Master…and to me…there is _nothing_ more important to us than your lives. The main reason why she is so desperate to survive these days is to ensure that you both survive."

"Praetor…!" Nero finally let tears run free from her eyes.

"I am unworthy of being a Heroic Spirit." I shook my head slowly. "I betrayed those I love, for the sake of love. My title of 'Heroine of Heartfelt Sacrifice' is a mockery of what I did. All I am good for is ensuring that Master does not go down the same route I did. I will be creating [Formal Wear] for her that should protect her from being infected by viruses, but I will not be able to do it quickly or easily."

"Caster…" Tamamo said quietly, deflating as the anger left her. "You still…love us, don't you?"

"Master told you?" I sighed again. "Yes. How could I not? Master and I were exactly identical right up until Saver was defeated. My feelings for you are the same as Master's."

I turned around, facing away from them as the sting of tears pricked my eyes. "That's…more than I planned to say. I don't deserve to speak to you, either of you. Not after what I did."

My body stiffened as two pairs of arms wound around me in an embrace that was so, so _achingly_ familiar. It was what I had secretly called the EX Rank Noble Phantasm **[Double Embrace of the Twin Empresses]** , one that could calm and soothe me regardless of what my mental condition. I had missed this more than I could say.

"Foolishness." Nero breathed into my ear. "You are you, Praetor. Heroic Spirit or not, you are the same as our Master, so utterly foolish."

"Tamamo dislikes what you did…but only because she remembers the promise that she made to you when Miss Saber and she confessed their feelings to you." The fox spirit said, referring to the promise they had made to be by my side no matter what.

"Tamamo…" I said breathlessly.

"It was Twice H. Pieceman's fault that we were torn apart in your timeline." Nero informed me firmly. "Umu, your actions forced our counterparts to go through seeing you die for their sake, but you are also correct in that you would have died regardless. For your actions towards our counterparts, umu, and the sentiment behind them, I can do nothing but praise you. Not worthy of being a Heroic Spirit? What nonsense."

"N-Nero…!" I could feel the tears falling from my eyes, not sad tears but tears of relief. They didn't hate me, didn't resent me for what I had done to their counterparts in my own timeline.

"Calm thyself, Caster." The emerald-eyed blond soothed me. "Umu, this has been emotionally draining for all three of us. Let us put this weighty subject aside until we emerge triumphant over yonder enemy Servant. Then we three and our Master shall sit down and discuss this situation and how we may best adapt to it."

"O…Okay…" I sniffed. I really was too fortunate, both as an NPC and as a Heroic Spirit. As an NPC, I was fortunate enough to meet two gorgeous, caring women who meant the world to me. And as a Heroic Spirit and Servant Caster, I was able to reunite with those self-same women and earn their forgiveness. It looks as if my A+ Luck Parameter wasn't an empty boast.

 _Later_

 _The Gates of the City of Spiders_

"Umu, that is a Grecian city if I have ever seen one." Sovereign Saber nodded self-assuredly.

"Did you ever _leave_ your capital city, Miss Saber?" Sovereign Caster asked with a single elegant brow raised.

"Erk…! Well, no…but I have seen architectural plans for them!" the blond stumbled before leaping back to full confidence.

"It is a Greek city design." Lancer confirmed.

"So what now?" Archer drawled.

"I'll start analysing the Bounded Fields around the walls." I said. "But first, I'll use two of my Noble Phantasms."

Kneeling down, I pressed one hand to the ground and started to chant, " _ **Through your eyes, I saw the truth, through your steps, I found my way. Through your death, I found my future!**_ **[False Body: The Initial Protagonist]!** "

In a blaze of blue light, the form of a brown-haired, brown-eyed boy wearing the uniform of Tsukumihara Academy appeared. Arms straight at his sides, he stood awaiting orders.

"Caster, who is this?" Archer asked.

"He was the boy, the magus rather, that I originally followed in order to attempt to join the Holy Grail War." I answered. "Without him, the Master and I would never have met our Servants. Which was enough to allow the Moon Cell to classify him as one of my Noble Phantasms. He is a basic golem that I can use to scout areas that are dangerous. I can see through his eyes like I would a Familiar's, but he is much easier to create than a Familiar. I can also do this…"

Closing my eyes, I took control of **[False Body]** and started him chanting the line for another of my Noble Phantasms.

" _ **Soulless doll, empty vessel. Arise and serve me until you are spent!**_ **[Effigy: Caricature of a Companion]!** "

Red light heralded the arrival of this new creature. Standing just barely higher than **[False Body]** , the **[Effigy]** was in the shape of a human, but only just. Its body was bottle-shaped, its limbs connected by invisible bonds and red lines crossed it.

"One of your Noble Phantasms…is summoning this _mockery_ of a Servant?" Nero's eyes twitched as she spoke. She disliked these wooden dolls tremendously.

"Up to twenty of them at a time, not including the one I can summon via **[False Body]**." I confirmed. I mentally ordered my two Noble Phantasms to brazenly approach the city gates. "Their Parameters are all E Rank; they have no Noble Phantasms or skills of their own and they are easily beaten by even restricted true Servants. They are, however, very much under my total control. I can have them attack in almost perfect unison, almost perfect synchronicity with one another. They are a powerful C Rank Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm that way."

"I should not have doubted you, Caster." Sovereign Saber chuckled ruefully as **[False Body]** and **[Effigy]** walked towards the city. "Leave it to one such as my Praetor to turn something as useless as those _wooden puppets_ and turning them into a good weapon. Umu, I really should not underestimate you."

"I am useless in close quarters combat, Saber." I said with a flush. "All Casters generally speaking are. Unless I had ample time to prepare for the specific Servants, any one of you here could defeat me. I am a weakling by the standards of Servants, even by the standards of Casters, who are even weaker, physically speaking, than Assassins."

Sovereign Caster bopped me lightly on the head. "None of that from one who may as well be my Goshujin-sama's twin sister."

Ruefully ribbing my head, I turned my attention onto my scouting Noble Phantasms. They were a hundred yards from the gates now, and still there was no reaction? How odd.

"Still no sign of them?" Archer scowled. "What gives? Enemies are at the gates and you don't react?"

"Nay, tis sensible." Sovereign Saber disagreed. "The enemy has stout gates and strong walls to protect them. There is no need for the turtle to expose its vulnerable neck by sticking its head out. Umu, tis what an amateur at war would think, at least. In reality it is the reverse; by surrendering the initiative, they pass the advantage to our hands. Caster?"

I pulled a piece of [Formal Wear] out, a monocle that I had created that allowed the wearer to perceive the presence, number and even the name of Bounded Fields within line of sight of me or even any creatures or beings that were under my control. I called it the [Senrigan], which most people translated as Clairvoyance. If literally translated though, it was the Thousand League Eye.

Slipping it on, I peered at the city through the eyes of my **[False Body]** and sucked in a breath. The city was practically _dripping_ in Bounded Fields. None were all that powerful on their own, and none were larger than a two story building, with most being smaller than that. Still, the sheer _number_ of them was daunting, plus they were definitely made to resemble spider's webs. Out of all of the possibilities that had been brought up, there really was only a single legendary figure that this could be if the architectural design of the city wasn't a red herring.

"Our enemy is almost certainly Arachne." I announced. "The spider's webs, combined with the architecture of the city, leave no doubt of that."

"Just because of that?" Archer asked sceptically.

"All Bounded Fields, except for High-Level Territory Creation and Reality Marbles, require a physical anchor to be active, whether it is jewels, an altar or some other mechanism." I said firmly. "Even with the two exceptions, like Sovereign Saber's **[Aestus Domus Aurea: Golden Theatre of the Flamboyant]** , they require the caster to act as the anchor of the barrier field. These spider webs that cover the city like blankets are the anchors for the Bounded Fields, which hold the name **[Hubris Spider's Field]**. There can only be _one_ legendary figure to which _that_ appellation can apply to."

"True. Caster, true-sighted." Assassin said stoically.

"Umu. Tis likely we shall face that wretchedly foolish woman." Nero nodded firmly once. She, as I knew, may have claimed to have been the equal of the gods when it came to the arts, but she had also given proper observations, respect and sacrifices to the gods to assuage their pride. Not only that, she had even earned the approval of the Smith God Vulcan upon the creation of her mighty sword, [Aestus Estus: The Embryonic Flame]. Unlike foolish Arachne, who had offended the pride of Athena without so much as an offering as a palliative.

Abruptly, the gates of the city were flung open, unleashing a massed wave of [Arachnos Warriors] that stampeded towards the lone figures of **[False Body]** and **[Effigy]**.

"Hmm…looks as if her patience wore out." Sovereign Saber tutted under her breath. "Arachne is clearly not suited to be a general."

"Caster, how are the Bounded Fields?" Sovereign Caster asked.

"I can't hack them from this distance." I shook my head in frustration. "I need to get closer. And that means going through that lot."

I nodded towards the stampeding horde of spider-like Attack Programs. They had already shredded both my **[False Body]** and **[Effigy]** to pieces and were now charging towards us.

"Umu. Then closer you shall go." Sovereign Saber grinned viciously. "It feels as if it has been an age since I last swung my blade in anger. Sovereign Caster, are you ready to fight for our Master?"

Tamamo raised an eyebrow, her voice sounding mock-offended. "Ready? This Tamamo-no-Mae was _born_ ready to fight, Miss Saber. If it is for the sake of my beloved Goshujin-sama, I shall overturn heaven and hell!"

"Umu. Umu, that it good!" Nero nodded. "Assassin, Lancer, Archer…kill them."

"Understood." Assassin faded away.

"In a place with no cover? Man, I want my Noble Phantasms back!" Archer complained as he strolled towards the enemies approaching, readying his crossbow.

"I'm going." Lancer nodded.

"Wait, Lancer." I said as I pulled out another piece of [Formal Wear] from my inventory. I was lucky to have kept the handy little thing as a Servant. The scarf I'd pulled from it was one that gave me several useful Code Casts, including…

" **{Invalid}!** " I cast it at Lancer, surrounding her with a golden aura. "You're now invulnerable for three minutes. Put it to good use."

"Uhn." The little goddess nodded before speeding off with her scythe drawn back.

Sovereign Saber and Sovereign Caster looked at me sympathetically.

"Alice?" Nero asked. I nodded back silently. The death of that little girl was a sin neither I nor my Master could ever forgive ourselves of. Regardless of the fact that Lancer was Medusa, a goddess who later grew into the Gorgon, her size and innocent appearance struck us both too close to the nerve to let it go.

"Well then…shall we, oh fellow wife?" Tamamo smirked at Nero.

"Umu. Let us indeed." Nero smirked back. In a flash, both of my Master's Sovereign Servants were speeding towards the horde of enemy Attack Program. One a red blur with a flame-like greatsword in hand, the other a purple blur, with a floating mirror spinning wildly about her. Following after the two of them were the [Swordsmen] and [Infantrymen].

Smiling and shaking my head at their antics, I started to walk sedately towards the City of Spiders. I could see literally dozens of dead [Arachnos Warriors] already, some cut into shreds by Lancer or Saber's blades, some burned or frozen by Tamamo's Maleficium, others pin-cushioned by Archer and Assassin's weapons. Just how many of these damn things did the enemy Caster have? Master was right about the fact that no matter _how_ you looked at it, the sheer number of Attack Programs was abnormal for a city of this size, which was barely about two-thirds that of Mayonaka no Umi.

As I didn't especially like the idea of being attacked, I used my **[Effigy: Caricature of a Companion]** Noble Phantasm again, this time summoning the full twenty [Effigies] that I could call forth. They arrayed themselves into a unit around me and fought off the few [Arachnos Warriors] that broke past the others. I could, thankfully, add in commands to them such as 'Attack any unfriendly unit that approaches within striking range' and other such useful commands.

While my guardians fended off the odd enemy, I continued my advance on the city until I was finally close enough to properly examine and hack the Bounded Fields inside the city. They were very basic, I had to say. Basic power amplification and presence concealment. What was clever about them was how every Bounded Field was interconnected with every other Bounded Field in the city. It amplified their power by a considerable margin.

What made one of my eyebrows twitch in both surprise and irritation, however, was the absolute lack of safety features or ways of separating the Bounded Fields to prevent the interconnection from being taken advantage of. It was as if she hadn't expected anyone to be able to mess with her spells after she'd cast them!

' _Hubris again._ ' I thought with a shake of my head. My hands danced across the interface that I used to access my Code Casts, at least the ones that didn't require [Formal Wear] to cast. With one final key click, it was done. The webs in the city all caught fire as soon as the virus I implanted in them spread to them all, which was no time at all given the lack of protection on the spells.

"Well done, Caster!" Nero shouted exultantly. "Ah, this reminds me of the Great Fire of Rome!"

Oh yeah…the fire that had swept through the Capital of the Roman Empire. Nero had purportedly acted out a play while it happened. Afterwards, she had built her famous Domus Aurea on the land cleared by the fire, leading to suspicions that she had set the fire on purpose.

The entirety of the city within the walls was on fire…except for the palace. By the looks of it, the enemy caster _had_ taken some precautions after all. The web network of the palace was separate from the city, and there was a set of stout walls separating the two.

"We'll have to take the palace the hard way." I transmitted to the other Servants. "The enemy Caster isn't as stupid as I initially thought. The palace's network of Bounded Fields is in autistic mode, completely cut off from outside interference."

"Well we can't exactly get through until we kill all of these bloody things first." Archer snarked as he fired more bolts.

"That's why I'm going to face Caster." I said firmly. "Cut a path for me!"

"Umu! It shall be done!" Nero nodded as she raised her great sword. She charged at the mass of [Arachnos Warriors] with the cry of, " _ **Pari Tenu Blauserum: Acclaim is the Equal of Roaring Thunder!**_ "

Ah, she was using her [Thunderous Applause] sword technique. Three heavy sword blows that dealt a great deal of physical damage to anything that hit it. Once I had gotten her Strength back up to its maximum, even one such as Gawain had remarked upon the power of this technique, so these Attack Programs stood no chance.

With a roar, Sovereign Saber slashed with Aestus Estus once, twice and thrice, each time cutting down countless [Arachnos Warriors] standing in her way. And yet more charged towards her.

" _ **Curse: Void Cleft Great Chaos Heaven!**_ " Sovereign Caster chanted and threw a handful of talismans at the spider-men. A roaring tornado of void blades tore through the remaining Attack Programs barring my way like a scythe through wheat.

This just proved how weak I was compared to Tamamo-no-Mae.

Shaking my head, I quickly advanced my small number of bodyguards forwards while the [Arachnos Warriors] were still reeling from Sovereign Saber and Sovereign Caster's little blitzkrieg, with Lancer, Archer and Assassin all too happy to take advantage of their enemy's distraction.

"We shall accompany you." Nero said as she leapt to my right. Tamamo dropped to my left as well.

"OK, but the enemy Caster is mine." I told them firmly. I had to at least do this much by way of atonement.

"Umu. We shall deal with any surprises the enemy has for you without fighting her." Nero nodded.

I took a deep breath. OK, Arachne. You attacked my Master and her city, as well as the two women I care for. Time to pay the piper!

 **F/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGG**

 **Next Chapter: Caster vs. Caster**

 **F/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGGF/E:GGG**


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